ESB From Another Point of View
by camcalli
Summary: The events of Episode Five with a few additions.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own it; it belongs to George Lucas, yada, yada, yada.

The Hidden Rebel Base in the Hoth System

The two women sitting together speaking quietly looked up when the door to their quarters swished open.

"Stars, what a crummy day!" The newcomer exclaimed.

"Shhhh!" She was immediately shushed.

"What?"

One of the women sitting on the lower bunk gestured to the top bunk across the room where a lump under the blankets indicated a fourth occupant.

"Aurora's sleeping."

The new arrival glanced at the huddled form. It was completely covered in heavy thermal blankets. Only a slight glimpse of dark red hair was visible at the top to give a clue to the bunk's occupant.

"Why's she so tired?"

The first being who had spoken, a Twi'lek with light blue skin, cast a worried look at the sleeping form. "She just came in after pulling back to back double shifts. I don't think she's slept in the last thirty six hours."

Her companion scowled. "I don't know what Alliance Command is thinking. They're going to kill us working these kinds of shifts."

The Twi'lek snorted. "They're not going to get a chance; we're all going to freeze to death first."

There was muffled laughter which was abruptly stopped when a small whimper was heard from the top bunk. They all looked up to see the sleeping form shift and mumble something, then suddenly roll, flinging the blankets to the side. With the blankets gone, the occupant's face was revealed, marred with a frown.

"Looks like she's having a nightmare." The second woman observed. "Think we should wake her up, Nir'deen?"

"I don't know. I hate to do it; she really needs the sleep."

The sleeping woman shifted and muttered again. This time her words were plainly audible. "No! Don't. Don't!" Her head tossed back and forth on her pillow. "Stop!"

Nir'deen reached for her friend's shoulder intent on waking her up when, with a suddenness that shocked them all, Aurora shot up to a sitting position, one hand thrust out in front of her, her eyes wide with fright. "Luke, no!"

The three women gaped at her. Her words seemed to echo in the cold stillness of the room.

"Aurora?" Nir'deen questioned.

The redhead ignored her, fumbling instead for her comlink. "Kenobi to Skywalker, come in." She paused, waiting for a response, but was only greeted by static. "Kenobi to Skywalker, come in. Luke, answer me, damn it!"

One of the other women hesitantly spoke up. "Uh, Commander. The comlink may not work. There's a storm coming in and the comm system isn't functioning very well."

Aurora swore and jumping down from the bunk, began to dress feverishly.

The three women exchanged worried glances. Nir'deen stepped forward. "Aurora, what's going on?"

Aurora continued to tug on her outerwear, not sparing the Twi'lek a glance. "I need to find Luke, _now_! He's in trouble."

"How do you know?"

Aurora sat down on the lower bunk to yank her boots on. "I saw it."

With the air of one taking her life into her hands, one of the others cleared her throat. "Maybe it was just a dream?"

She withered under the look Aurora gave her. "It wasn't a dream." The redhead stood up and grabbed her gloves and head gear from her footlocker.

"Aurora," Nir'deen grabbed her arm. "Where are you going?"

"I've got to find Luke. Maybe I can reach him in time."

Unwilling to leave her friend alone with the mood she was in, Nir'deen turned to find her own outergear. "Wait, and I'll go with you."

"I don't have time to wait for you. I have to get to him." Without another word, Aurora keyed the door and was gone, leaving a stunned silence behind her.

"What was that all about?"

"Yeah, how could she possibly know Commander Skywalker was in trouble?"

Nir'deen looked worried. "The Force."

Aurora rushed through the frozen corridors of the base as quickly as she could go, dodging personnel and skidding occasionally on the icy floors. A feeling of dread was creeping through her. Most of the beings she passed stepped quickly out of her way, unnerved by the grim look on the normally smiling face of Commander Aurora Kenobi. In record time, she was entering the command center of the base. She tagged the first controller she saw. "Is the comm system functional?"

The young Lieutenant shook his head. "No, sorry, Commander. There's another storm coming in and it's really playing havoc with our sensors."

Aurora swore bitterly.  
Behind her a smooth voice called her name. "Is everything alright?"

Aurora turned to find Princess Leia Organa standing behind her with a concerned look on her lovely face.

"Leia, do you know where Luke is?"

"He and Han are out on patrol, placing sensors."

Aurora checked her chrono. "Their shift should have ended an hour ago."

"It did, Han was just here." Leia scowled for a minute at some private thought, then deliberately smoothed out her face. (A/N: This is shortly after Han announced he was leaving the Rebellion and he and Leia had their infamous "Wookiee kiss" conversation.)

The young commander sagged in relief. "Then Luke's back inside the base."

"Actually, I'm not certain. He didn't come back with Han." Leia explained.

Fear crossed Aurora's features again. "I need to find him. Where's Solo?"

Leia was looking worried. "I think he's working on the Falcon. Aurora, what's going on?"

"Luke's in trouble. Really bad trouble." Aurora said. "There might still be time to stop it."

"How do you know? Is it-" Leia hesitated. "Is it the Force?"

"Yes. I had some kind of vision. I couldn't tell where Luke was, just that he was in danger." Aurora's voice faltered for a moment. "All I could see were him and swirls of white; like snow."

"There's a storm coming in." Leia whispered.

"I know." Aurora's eyes met Leia's terrified ones.

"If he's still outside the base when the storm hits…" Leia trailed off.

"I know." Aurora said again, fear evident in her voice. "I'll head to the hangar and try to find Han and see if he knows where Luke is. You keep trying the comlink. Maybe you can get something through."

Leia nodded, icy fear making its way up her spine. As cold as it was inside the base, outside on the surface of the planet was even worse, and with a storm coming in….anyone left out there didn't stand a chance.

"May the Force be with you." She whispered as Aurora disappeared through the door of the command center.

There was no room for anything in Aurora's head but sheer determination. She ignored anything and everything in her desperate rush to the main hangar. Somehow, despite her attempt to get to Han, she knew it was already too late. Whatever was going to happen to Luke had already happened. Now, she just had to find him before it was too late.

Out of breath, she burst into the main hangar and dodged swiftly around the various ships towards the area where the Falcon had been docked. With a surge of relief, she spotted the familiar flattened shape sitting peacefully on the ice and ran towards it.

She could hear Han yelling "Turn it off, turn it off!" as she rounded the corner of the ship and saw him crouched on one of the engines, holding his hands up to ward off sparks.

Chewie's yowl was heard from inside the ship, and the sparks suddenly stopped as the engine shut down.

"Great, just great." Han muttered under his breath. He looked up as a flash of tan caught his eye and he saw Aurora heading towards him.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" He was well aware of the hours she'd been putting in, and although he'd never admit it, he was a little worried about the clear signs of exhaustion that had been visible on her face the last time he'd seen her.

Aurora ignored his question. "Where's Luke?" She panted out.

"I don't know. Probably around here somewhere." Han replied.

"Did he come back to base with you?"

Confused by the questions, Han sat back on his heels. "No, he wanted to check out a meteorite that hit near him. Why?"

"You haven't seen him since you came back then?" Aurora gasped out, bending over abruptly at the waist, trying to suck in air. Her frantic dash through the base had left her completely out of breath.

"No, damn it. I haven't seen him since we left for patrol together." Han snarled, getting frustrated. "What the hell is going on?"

Before she could reply, a familiar prissy voice was heard, calling his name.

"Oh great. Just what I need."

"Captain Solo! Captain Solo, sir." Threepio exclaimed in relief.

"What do you want, Goldenrod?" Han asked, exasperated. The droid just plain got on his nerves.

"It's Princess Leia, sir. She's been trying to reach you on your comlink."

Han scowled. "I turned it off. I don't want to talk to her."

"Oh." Threepio looked as confused as a droid could, as if he couldn't comprehend this unusual human behavior. But then, he frequently looked like that around Han.

"What does she want?" Han asked impatiently.

"It's about Master Luke, sir."

"Oh for-Look, I don't know where he is!" Han exploded.

"No one knows where he is, sir." Threepio explained.

Han looked up from the open engine compartment. "What do you mean, no one knows?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you, Solo." Aurora stated. "Luke hasn't been seen since you both left on patrol. I don't think he's come back to the base yet."

Han glanced at his chrono. Even with the delay of checking out the meteorite, the kid should have been back over an hour ago. Unless something had happened…

"He's in trouble. I can feel it." Aurora whispered, green eyes dark with fear.

Han grimaced, not that Force hoo-doo stuff again. "Look, let's not start panicking." He looked around and spotted the officer of the deck. He slid down off the engine and hurried over to the man, the other two following.

"Deck Officer, has Commander Skywalker checked in yet?"

The man looked down at his datapad, surprised. "No, sir."

Aurora bit down on her lip.

"It's possible he may have come in through the southern entrance."

"It's possible? Why don't you go check that out." Han ordered, a subtle threat in his voice.

Aurora shoved her hands through her hair in frustration as the deck officer scurried off. "This is a waste of time, Solo! Luke hasn't come back to base. He's still out there and we have to find him!"

Han grabbed her arm as she started to leave. "Hold on! Let's just make certain before we go tearing off in all different directions."

It was odd, but neither of them even seemed to question that once they knew for sure that Luke was still outside of base, they were going after him.

The deck officer returned. "Sir, Commander Skywalker hasn't checked in through the Southern Entrance, either. Perhaps he just forgot to check in."

"Not likely." Han said grimly. "Where he comes from you learn to be careful." He swept cold eyes around. "Are the snow speeders ready?"

"No, sir. We've been having problems adapting them to the cold."

Aurora grabbed heavy-duty cold weather gear from the closest locker. "It'll have to be Taun-tauns then."

Han nodded, and began garbing himself.

The deck officer looked incredulous. "Are you insane? Night's coming and the temperature's dropping."

"Yeah, and my friend's out there in it."

"Out of our way, Lieutenant." Aurora ordered.

Drawing himself up, the deck officer tried to look firm. "No. Sir, General Rieken has given orders that no one be allowed to leave the base. There's a storm coming and-"

"Lieutenant." Aurora interrupted.

"Sir?"

"What did you just call me?"

"Uh-sir?"

"Exactly." She said with grim satisfaction. "Now get out of my way." She pushed past him and headed for the nearest saddled taun taun.

Han hesitated, looking at her. "Maybe you should stay here."

"Don't, Solo." Aurora stated quietly, not bothering to look at him.

"Aurora," He grabbed hold of her arm again, forcing her to look at him. "You haven't slept in three days; you're exhausted. The cold's going to sap what little energy you have left."

Her eyes met his. "He's in danger. We have to get to him, fast." She said evenly. "And you'll never find him without me."

Han continued to hold her gaze. "_Can_ you find him?"

"Yes."

Han nodded once, and turned away to mount his taun taun.

"I have to." Aurora whispered under her breath as she too swung into her saddle.

The deck officer tried one more time. "Sirs, your taun tauns won't make it to the first marker! You'll freeze!"

Han inclined his head. "Then we'll see you in hell."

The change in temperature was immediately apparent before they'd even cleared the base's doors.

"Head for Luke's last known location." Aurora yelled over the howl of the wind. "I'll take it from there."

Solo nodded and urged his taun taun into a fast trot, Aurora following behind. Speed was imperative. As night approached the temperature would continue to drop. Unless they found Luke soon, none of them stood a chance.

Half an hour later found them near the location of Luke's last transmission. Han had half hoped they'd find tracks in the snow that would lead them to Luke, but the blasts of wind howling across the frozen landscape had wiped the snow clean.

"This is the last sensor he placed." Han shouted. "He must have been near here when he saw the meteorite." He glanced around for any indication of movement.

Beside him, Aurora closed her eyes and tried to ignore the bitter cold and blowing snow; forcing herself to relax her muscles. She instinctively sought that ripple sensation she'd felt several times now and tried to picture Luke. Several long moments passed, when suddenly, she felt a low pressure, pulling her towards the left.

She opened her eyes in triumph. "Solo, that way!" One gloved hand pointed.

Han nodded and they started off again. They hadn't gone very far when Han's taun taun groaned and stumbled. He clutched the saddle tightly trying to hang on. The animal shuddered and faltered again, suddenly crashing to its knees. Han went off over its head.

"Solo!" Aurora yelled, reining her taun taun in and jumping down. She ran over to help Han to his feet. They both stared in dismay at the dead animal.

Aurora squared her shoulders. She felt terrible about causing the animal's death, but nothing was as important as Luke. "We'll have to double up."

Han looked doubtful. "The taun taun's struggling as it is. Adding both our weight's just going to make it worse."

"Do we have another choice?"

They mounted up again and continued on their journey into the dark, swirling snow.

Han knew this was a waste of time. There was no way they'd be able to find Luke. There were miles upon miles of empty, frozen tundra and he could be anywhere. Aurora was counting on this mysterious Force to help them find Luke, and he just plain didn't believe in it. They were on a suicide mission. Luke was probably already dead, and he and Aurora would be shortly, unless they stopped now and put up the snow shelter they'd brought with them. He should put a stop to this madness now; make Aurora stop. But somehow, Han just couldn't make himself give up looking. Couldn't quite give up that slight spark of hope, that maybe, just maybe there was something to this Force business and Aurora could use it to find the kid.

In front of him, he felt Aurora suddenly stiffen. She said something. Han couldn't hear very well over the howling of the storm, but it almost sounded as if she'd said 'Father'. She had pulled the taun taun to a halt and was staring intently at something off to their right.

He nudged her shoulder, but she didn't turn, just kept staring into the storm. Then she nodded and said something again.

Han felt an icy chill run up his spine that had nothing to do with the sub-zero temperatures. He'd swear she was having a conversation with someone. Someone who wasn't there. Maybe the cold had gotten to her. She could be having some kind of hypothermia-induced hallucinations. Han snorted to himself. No maybe about it if she thought she was having a conversation with the old man. Kenobi was dead, very dead. Hard to talk when you'd been sliced in half by a lightsaber. Maybe it was time Han took over the reins.

Before he could reach for them, Aurora had urged the taun taun into a trot again, heading in the direction she'd been staring. Now Han knew they were doomed. Bad enough to have to rely on this Force thing, but now they were following the directions of a dead man. And he was allowing it. Maybe he was the one suffering from the cold.

Suddenly, he spotted something ahead on the ground. Something slightly darker than the surrounding snow. It looked like-it was!

"Luke!"

He clearly heard Aurora's yell, even over the storm. She'd jumped off the taun taun and was racing through the drifts to reach the young commander. Han followed, praying to gods he didn't even believe in that the kid was still alive.

Together, they rolled Luke over onto his back. He was covered in snow and his skin was almost blue. There were terrible, bloody gashes across one cheek.

"Is he?" Han asked.

As if on cue, Luke's lashes fluttered and he groaned.

"He's alive! Barely." Aurora began frantically brushing snow off of him. "We've got to get him back to base as fast as we can."

The words were no sooner out of her mouth, when behind them, the taun taun gave out a low, groan.

"Oh, no!"

"Don't you give me trouble too, girl!" Han swore, as the taun taun swayed, and then collapsed.

Aurora's moan echoed the taun taun's. "We've got to get Luke warm, fast, or he's not going to make it."

"We've got a shelter with us."

He clambered to his feet and ran back to the dead animal. Strapped to the back of the animal was an emergency shelter. With three of them in it, it would be tight, but they'd have to make do. He grabbed it and ran back to Aurora. "Here, start setting this up. I've got an idea how to keep the kid warm in the mean time." Without further explanation, he grabbed Luke's lightsaber off his hip and, hurrying back to the taun taun, sliced open the animal's belly. "Sorry about this, old girl." Steam burst out into the cold air as slimy entrails burst free. Han grabbed Luke by the arm and dragging him over to the animal, began stuffing him inside the carcass. "Sorry, buddy, but this will keep you warm until we can get the shelter up."

Once Luke was all the way inside, Han rested his arm against the animal's hairy side and panted for breath. "Whew! And I thought they smelled bad on the outside!"

He hastened over to help Aurora, and in short order they were dragging their injured friend inside the shelter. In grim silence Aurora stripped Luke down to his shorts and got him into one of the thermal bags they'd brought, while Han started the small, portable heating unit that was part of the shelter.

Then, to Han's surprise, she immediately began stripping off her own clothes.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't you pay attention to any of those survival classes we had to attend? Luke needs body heat to get warm. The thermal bag will stop him from losing any more heat, but he's not generating enough of his own to get warm. We need to provide it, and the fastest way is skin to skin. Only one of us will fit into the bag with him." She gave him a wry look. "I assumed you'd both prefer it was me." She was down to her bra and underwear as she spoke, and hurriedly squirmed into the bag next to Luke, her skin flinching away from the icy feel of his.

Han nodded emphatically. "Good idea. I'll just get the homing beacon set up." He grabbed the small beacon and ducked back out of the shelter.

Aurora wrapped both arms around Luke's still form, trying not to notice how stiff and unnatural his body felt. "Stay with me, Luke." She whispered. "We didn't come all the way out here just to have you die." As if in response to her words, he moaned slightly and muttered something.

She tilted her head closer to his mouth.

"Dagobah….see…Yoda."

"I see you had a little visit from my dad too." Aurora murmured. "We'll worry about that later. You just concentrate on staying alive." She began to gently exhale warm breath next to his mouth and nose, somewhere in the back of her mind thinking that these were not the circumstances under which she imagined being this close to Luke.


	2. Chapter 2

The storm continued to howl around the little shelter. Heavy winds buffeted the walls and the structure creaked. Inside, Han and Aurora lay sleepless, listening tensely in the dark.

"Think it will hold?" Aurora finally asked, breaking the long silence.

"I don't know." Han said truthfully. "It wasn't really designed for these kinds of conditions."

"I'm going to be pretty ticked off if we got this far only to have the damn shelter collapse on us." She stated.

Han chuckled. "Sort of an inglorious end for us."

Aurora laughed lightly.

"What's so funny?" A slurred voice asked.

"Luke?" Han asked, sitting up.

Aurora felt Luke's head move against her chest. "Where are we?"

"You don't want to know." Han replied. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a Hutt landed on me. What happened?"

"You went for a little stroll in a Hoth blizzard." Aurora answered.

She felt Luke still against her. "Aurora? Is that you?"

"Who else did you think you were snuggled up against?"

"Don't know. I was just hoping it wasn't Han." Luke answered weakly.

"That's gratitude for you." Han snorted, relief making him giddy. "Next time I think I'll just stay home."

"Me too." Luke replied wryly. There was silence for a moment and then Luke spoke again. "It would be the two of you. How'd you find me?" _(A/N Much of the following dialogue is taken directly from NPR's radio dramatization of the Empire Strikes Back. If you've never listened to it, I highly recommend it.)_

"Snoozing in the snow, that's how we found you." Han answered.

"Nice going. You have some sense of timing, Solo. Where are we?"

Aurora spoke from behind him. "An emergency shelter on the north side of the glacier field."

Luke thought about that for a moment. North side of the glacier field meant they were quite a ways from base. "You think this thing's going to hold up?"

There was a long moment of silence, finally broken by Han's blasé voice. "Well, I'm sort of hoping for the best, buddy."

"You sure picked a great time to field test it, huh?" Luke replied, his voice sounding weaker.

"Perfect. How you feeling?" Han asked him in concern.

"Ugh. Terrific. Why don't we go outside and get some calisthenics in before it gets too dark?"

"Sure. We can always play some tag."

Luke bit down on his lip to hold back a cry of pain as suddenly all of his muscles seemed to contract at once into knots of agony. After a moment, they released and he was able to take a shaky breath. Aurora, having felt him suddenly tense against her, then relax, heard his shaky exhale and guessed the cause. But she didn't say a word, simply held onto him and allowed him his pride.

"So, how'd you get out here?" Luke asked after he had regained his breath.

"Taun taun. There wasn't any other way." Han replied. His voice was a little subdued, as though he too had guessed at the pain the other man was in. "She didn't make it though."

"So we're here until the weather breaks?" Luke inquired, working to keep the dismay out of his voice.

"Yeah, that's about it."

Another long moment of silence passed in which they could hear Luke's breathing turn into low pants again as another wave of pain gripped him.

"Luke?" Aurora murmured, shifting her hand to touch his face.

"I can't feel my legs. I'm numb." He voice held a tinge of panic.

"You're going to be okay." Han responded instantly, attempting to sooth the young Commander. "There's not a lot more we can do for you with the medikit. But they'll put you through nerve therapy and they'll float you in a regenerative tank and you'll be good as new."

"Too bad the nearest one is a couple of kilometers away through a blizzard." The hopelessness of their situation was becoming clear to Luke. Not only had he managed to nearly get himself killed, but he managed to drag his two friends into the disaster with him. Some Jedi he was.

"No more talking like that! You're going to make it, you hear?" Han's voice was adamant, not allowing for any despondency. He cleared his throat uncomfortably, as if ashamed of his own feelings. "What happened to your face? You look like you walked into a rotorblade?"

Luke allowed the change of subject, mainly because he didn't want to dwell on their situation or his own helplessness anymore. "Oh, it was a wampa; ice creature. Jumped me on the ridge and killed my taun taun."

"How very rude, as Threepio would say. I hoped you killed it right back." It was a typical Solo comment.

"Well, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time." He took a deep breath, suddenly becoming conscious of something. "What smells so bad in here?" Luke asked. He wasn't prepared for both Han and Aurora to start laughing. His head was bouncing, and he realized that he was lying with his head against Aurora's chest. Against all odds, he suddenly felt very warm.

"You." Han snorted in reply to his question. "You spent a little time inside my taun taun while we were having a house raising party."

Luke made a face that Aurora seemed to see in the dark.

"Don't blame me. That was all Solo's idea."

"Somehow, I never doubted _that_ for a minute." He shifted, trying to find some comfort, and felt Aurora move behind him, sliding her arm under his head so that he could turn a little. He became aware that they were lying pressed very close together and suddenly his discomfort didn't seem to have much to do with being half-frozen. He desperately searched for something to say. "Well, I guess you can cancel all my social engagements for the evening."

"Don't worry. I'm sure the Rogues can still manage to get drunk and play sabacc, even without you there." Aurora soothed mockingly.

Han swore lightly. "Damn."

"What's the matter?" Aurora asked with some alarm.

"I'm missing the game!"

Luke laughed slightly, "Then maybe you should have stayed back at Base." He paused and then spoke softly. "So, what's your excuse this time, huh?"

"Huh? For what?" Han sounded genuinely confused.

"Coming out after me. I guess you can't claim it was the money this time."

There was a long, thoughtful silence before Han spoke again, his voice just as soft. "Well, I'll figure something out, Luke."

"I'll bet you will."

Suddenly, the hut creaked and groaned as a particularly violent gust of wind shook it. Something snapped loudly. Luke couldn't control his involuntary start and the resultant groan as his abused body protested the sudden movement.

"This hut's gonna hold and you're gonna make it." Han told him severely.

"I only wish I could have seen Leia; said goodbye one last time." the young Commander whispered, fighting against the pain he was in.

Aurora tensed at the quick lash of jealousy, but she didn't say anything. Now was hardly the time.

Han reached out in the darkness and rested his hand on the thermal bag over Luke's shoulder. "I've got a better idea, pal, why don't you just settle down and relax, and tomorrow you can say hello to her instead."

Luke shifted slightly, trying to repress a moan at the pain the action caused as he listened to Han wearily trying to reach help.

"Repeat: Hoth Base, this is Solo. Hoth Base, this is Solo." Frustrated and exhausted Han lost what little patience he had left and slammed the comlink down. "What, is everybody, taking a nap back there?"

"Come on, Han, yelling into the comlink isn't going to help." Luke said partly to try to calm the other man down, but mostly because he was tired of listening to Han rant. After hours shut alone in the dark, the already small shelter felt even smaller and tempers were fraying. "Why don't you just try chill-."

"Why don't you just put a plug in it and leave me alone!" Han snapped. "I'm trying to hitch us a ride here."

Trying to avert yet another pointless argument between her two companions, Aurora interrupted. "What's it like outside?"

Reigning in his temper with difficulty, Han managed to reply with a modicum of civility. "The door sensor says it's getting lighter and getting warmer."

"Boy, maybe we should send for room service; get some breakfast." Luke interjected.

"Why don't you just stay still?" Han retorted, anger concealing the worry in his voice. "Those injuries won't get any better with you jumping all over the place." Despite his game attempts at conversation, it was clear that Luke was in severe pain

"Right, I'm going to need my strength when this shelter caves in on us from the weight of all that ice." Luke said sarcastically.

Han glared at him through the gloom of the shelter. "Look, I don't need you to depress me; I can depress myself." Catching the narrowing of Aurora's eyes, he cleared his throat and made another attempt at civility. "At least the doors are still clear." He turned to the comlink and tried again to reach Echo Base. Unfortunately, considering the condition of his temper, it wasn't the most congenial effort. "Solo to Base, are you guys really looking for us or are we just some kind of hobby?"

"You should have been a salesman, Solo." Luke said in disgust, his opinion of Han's efforts clear. Before Han could turn on him though, a wave of agony caught Luke unaware, and he was unable to suppress a gasp of pain. Dimly through the hurt, he felt Aurora's hand clasp his and he clung to it tightly until the stabbing agony released its grip and he was able to draw a breath.

"Are you alright?" Han asked, watching him with anxiety.

Unfortunately, pain and humiliation sharpened his tongue, and his reply to Han's concern wasn't exactly gracious. "Are you kidding? After a fight with a wampa and a stroll through a Hoth blizzard? No, pal, I'm not alright." Luke took a breath, and then another, fighting for control. The waves of pain were coming faster now and he wasn't able to hide the effects anymore. Trying to conceal how wretched he really felt, Luke tried to lighten the mood with an off-hand remark "I think I'll ask the Rebellion for a raise."

It didn't work. Both Han and Aurora were watching him with worried eyes. Aurora didn't say anything, just held onto his hand, but Han's response was typical:

"Shut up and stay still. I can't give you another stim shot. The medikit says you're at the limit right now."

"Oh, that's a nice place for me." Luke replied idly.

Watching his friend suffer, Han felt stupid and useless, so naturally he took it out on his companions. "If you'd just quit jostling my elbow here I could get us a little aid and assistance!" he snapped.

"You know, you always were terrible at rescues." Luke replied, goading the Corellian more.

"Yeah, and you could do it better?"

"Well, couldn't anybody?"

"How'd you like me to stick a gag on you?"

"With or without Chewie?"

"That does it, sonny! You don't think I've got enough things to do than mess around here with you? I don't need your help -!"

"Shut up!" Aurora suddenly snapped, straining her ears to hear over the men's squabble. A slight squawk from the communicator was heard, then static which shortly resolved itself into words.

"This is Rogue Two. This is Rogue Two. Commander Kenobi, do you copy? Captain Solo, do you copy? This is Rogue Two. Do you copy, Commander Skywalker?"

Han let out a restrained whoop and scrambled for the communicator.

"Good morning. Nice of you guys to drop by." He said with typical Solo sarcasm.

They all heard the smile in Zev's voice as he reported back to base. "Echo Base, this is Rogue Two. I found them. Repeat, I found them."

Leia sat in one of the uncomfortable chairs in the medical center. She held herself stiffly, her concentration focused on the tank across from her where Luke floated, immersed in bacta. Next to her, Han and Chewbacca held a low, muffled conversation. Beyond them, the two droids stood in mechanical silence. Leia was left alone with her thoughts. The amount of relief she'd felt when she'd heard Rogue Two's report that he had found them, worried her. She'd always held herself somewhat aloof from normal relationships. She was a Princess of Alderaan, and she had never had any close friends. Especially after joining the Alliance. There wasn't time for relationships. All of her concentration had to be focused on the cause of freedom. But somehow, this small group of beings had come to mean so much to her. Too much. She'd felt gut wrenching fear when she'd learned that Luke had never returned to base, and it had only tripled when she'd been informed Han and Aurora had gone out after him. What would she have done if they'd all been lost? And what was almost worse, she couldn't decide whose loss she would have regretted more: Han's or Luke's. Her feelings for them were all mixed up. The Corellian pilot caused feelings inside of her that she had never experienced. He could make her giddier than she'd ever felt and then within minutes, make her more furious then she'd ever been. And that wasn't even including the physical sensations he stirred up. But if she felt this way about Han, what was it then that she felt for Luke? Because she did feel something for him. He could make her feel comforted, just by being near. When she was having a bad day, she seemed to instinctively seek him out. So what did that say about her? Was she fickle? Shallow?

Leia's dark thoughts were interrupted by the swish of the med center's door opening. Aurora walked in, bringing cold air from the corridor with her. She acknowledged all their greetings with an abstracted air, her eyes focused on the tank across from them.

"Rogue Flight all taken care of?" Han asked.

The redhead nodded. "All present and accounted for. Except for Rogue Leader, of course." Her eyes flicked back to Luke's unconscious form. "I'm in command until he's back on his feet."

"That shouldn't be too long then." Han replied. "Twoonebee says he's recovering fine. As soon as he wakes up, they're going to remove him from the bacta and transfer him to a recovery room."

Leia frowned at the unaccustomed gentleness in Han's voice as he spoke to the other woman. Normally, the two of them traded insults and snide remarks. Now, Han actually sounded concerned. He wasn't being that nice to _her_. What had happened between the two of them out in the blizzard? She was already feeling somewhat left out and this was only making it worse. She watched with a slight scowl as Aurora crossed the room to the tank where Luke floated. The redhead stared at it for a moment, an odd look on her face, and then slowly raised her hand to rest against the clear side, directly in front of Luke's face. Luke twitched slightly, almost as if in response.

"Aurora," Leia said, more sharply then she intended. "I don't think you should be disturbing him."

"I'm not doing anything." Aurora responded, her voice sounding faraway.

Luke twitched again, and then suddenly opened his eyes, seeming to focus directly on Aurora.

Behind her, Leia sucked in a breath. Before she could say anything, a team of medical droids scurried into the room, surrounding the tank and pushing Aurora back.

"You will need to leave now, please." One of the droids told all of them.

"But, can't we-?" Aurora started to say, her eyes still on the figure in the tank, her distress evident.

The droid appeared to look at her almost with compassion. "Do not worry, Commander Kenobi. All evidence suggests that Commander Skywalker will make a full recovery."

"Come on, sweetheart." Han said, "You heard him, the kid's going to be fine."

Chewie whuffed, wrapping a hairy arm around Aurora and leading her toward the door.

"Chewie's right." Han stated, following behind them, "You need to get some food in you before you end up in the med center too."

Leia hissed out a breath and turned on her heel, walking out the door and heading directly for the privacy of her own quarters. Everyone was so concerned about Aurora. Even the droids seemed to have a soft spot for her. She should be worried too. The other woman was clearly exhausted and the strain of worrying over Luke was taking an obvious toll. But Leia couldn't help but resent the attention the young commander was getting. Wasn't she worried too? Hadn't she been up all night? Just because she hadn't rushed out into a blizzard didn't mean she didn't care about Luke just as much as Aurora did. Fuming, she punched in her code as she reached the door and stepped into the cold darkness. Unable to settle, she left the lights off and began pacing back and forth across the small room. And what was with Han's behavior? Had the two of them bonded or something while they were rescuing Luke? Or – Leia paused in the pacing, a terrible thought crossing her mind. Was it something else? Aurora was a beautiful woman and Han certainly had an eye for beauty. Maybe while trapped together in that tiny shelter something had happened between the two of them. For some reason, this thought made Leia feel even worse than before. With a loud groan she collapsed on her bunk.

"Stop it!" She said aloud, clutching her head. "You're making yourself crazy. You can't even decide who you're jealous over, Luke or Han."


	3. Chapter 3

Wedge looked up from his meal as Nir'deen dropped her tray down on the table and sat, looking drained and exhausted.

"Hey, Deen. How's Aurora doing?"

"How would I know?" The Twi'lek looked disgusted. "I don't even know where she is."

"What?" Tycho asked from Wedge's other side. "I thought she was catching up on her sleep?"

Nir'deen nodded. "She was supposed to be. She was in her bunk when I got there, sleeping, but after about an hour, she left."

Wedge shook his head, clearly irritated. "A whole hour. What a miracle."

Nir'deen hesitated for a minute then spoke, "She looked really freaked out when she left. I don't think she was sleeping very well. Lots of tossing and turning. Then she sat up and got dressed. Just said she couldn't sleep and was going to get some work done."

Wedge shoved his tray away and stood up. "Come on, Tych. I've had about enough of this. Aurora might think she's some kind of superhuman who doesn't need food or rest, but she's going to end up collapsing if she doesn't knock it off. Luke's already in the med center. The last thing we need is Aurora there too."

"Yeah," Tycho nodded as he followed Wedge out of the eatery. "Then you'd be in charge of Rogue Flight."

Wedge shuddered. "Stop. You're starting to scare me."

In the corridor they ran into Wes and Hobbie.

"What's up, Wedge?" Hobbie asked, concerned at the harsh look on the Corellian's face. "Is Luke-?"

"No, he's fine. It's our other Commander this time."

"Aurora?" Wes' normally cheerful face went abruptly grim. "What happened?"

Wedge motioned for them to join them and the four continued down the corridor. "What happened is that she's an idiot. Instead of resting and taking care of herself, which any intelligent being would do after being rescued from near death by freezing, our illustrious Commander Kenobi is ignoring all medical advice and working herself to exhaustion."

"Do you think maybe she's trying to avoid thinking about what happened?" Hobbie asked quietly. "After all, we did almost lose Luke and you know how she feels about him."

Wedge closed his eyes briefly as a shudder passed through him. They _had_ almost lost Luke. And Aurora. He could still feel the ice, cold spike of fear that had shot through him when word came down that Luke was lost in the storm and Aurora and Solo had gone after him. When he spoke, his voice was calmer. "I'm pretty sure that _is_ what she's doing, Hobs. But trying to ignore it instead of dealing with it isn't going to help."

"So what are we going to do?" Tycho asked.

"Help her deal with it."

"She'll be in Luke's office." Wes said. He'd been uncharacteristically quiet. Wedge knew he had a soft spot when it came to Aurora. They all did. Most of them were alone, with few if any family members left. The squadron had become family, and Aurora, despite outranking them, was the little sister they all felt bound to protect. It was just too bad that that particular attitude tended to tick her off.

Aurora curled tighter into Luke's chair, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make herself stop shaking. This was stupid! It was over. They'd found Luke and he was going to be fine, so there was absolutely no reason for her to be falling apart like this. But she was.

She'd gone back to her quarters after Han and Chewie forced her to eat, intending on getting some much needed sleep. But she'd only managed a few hours before she'd started dreaming. The beginning was bad enough: a replay of the events leading up to their discovery of Luke. She'd experienced the same terrifying knowledge that something had happened to him, the same hopeless despair knowing she was too late, and the same desperate clawing need to find him. But then it got worse. Because this time as she struggled through the deep snow to reach his body and roll him over, his lashes didn't flutter and he didn't groan out the name of the planet that Ben wanted them to visit. He just lay there, frozen, his skin blue and his eyes staring sightlessly at the frozen Hoth sky, already filmed over with ice. They were too late. _She_ was too late. And suddenly her father was standing before her, a terrible look of disappointment on his face.

"_If you would have paid better attention to the Force, this wouldn't have happened."_

"_I tried, Ben! I tried!"_

"_A real Jedi would have saved him. A real Jedi wouldn't have been too late."_

She'd sat up in her bunk with a jerk, her father's words echoing in her mind. She'd tried to shrug it off, it was only a dream after all, but every time she'd lain back down and closed her eyes, all she could see was Luke's frozen dead face and hear her father's words repeating over and over again. _Too late. Too late. _

Finally, unable to take it any longer and knowing she was on the edge of breaking down, she'd gotten dressed and headed for the one place on base she knew she'd have privacy: Luke's office.

So here she was, a Starfighter Commander in the Rebel Alliance, a potential Jedi, and one of the heroes of Yavin, huddled in a broken down ejector chair in an empty office, shaking like a lost child. All because of a stupid dream.

Her throat was tight and aching with the tears that she refused to shed, and she kept trying to swallow past the obstruction, but she couldn't, and all the time the shaking was getting worse. Finally, cursing her own weakness, she wrapped her arms around her raised knees, buried her face against them and just gave in.

It all came pouring out: the fears and the tension, the anxiety and stress, the constant exhaustion that seemed to seep into your very bones, the worry that never left you for a single minute, but always seemed to linger in the back of your mind. All the ugliness that she had been carrying around with her since the death of her mother, it all came spewing out in wild sobs that shook her entire frame.

After what seemed like hours, Aurora was spent. Her throat felt seared and her eyes burned, there was a dull ache in her head, and she was simply empty. There was nothing left. She felt slightly ashamed for not being strong enough to hold it together, but mostly she just felt tired, and wanted nothing more than to crawl back into her bunk and hide in sleep for several days. Unfortunately, she knew the odds of that happening were low. There was always something she would be needed for. As if on cue, someone started pounding on the door, and she cursed, wiping haphazardly at her face to remove any signs of her emotional breakdown. Realizing it was probably futile; she gave up and just opened the door.

They reached the door to Luke's office and Wedge started to open it, only to find it surprisingly locked. This only confirmed their suspicions, as Luke never remembered to lock his door.

Wedge pounded his fist against the cold metal. "Open the damn door, Aurora. We know you're in there."

"We're not leaving until we talk to you." Tycho added calmly.

"Auror-shavit!" Wes had pushed past Wedge and lifted his hand to pound against the door only to have it suddenly open. He stopped his fist just in time to prevent it from slamming into Aurora's face. "Oh, you are here." He managed to say, lamely.

One eyebrow rose. "If you didn't think I was, why were you trying to break down the door?"

Wes had the grace to look abashed, but managed to recover quickly and avoid the exasperated looks the other gave him. "We were worried about you."

Aurora's face instantly shut down. "I'm fine."

Despite her words, it was pretty obvious that she wasn't. Her eyes were red and swollen, and there were still tear marks down her pale cheeks.

"Yeah, right." Wedge said, nudging her out of the way so the others could enter the office.

"I'm fine." She insisted. Wedge said nothing, just lifted his hand and ran one finger over her cheek, then held it up so that she could see the tip, glistening with wetness.

A dull flush crept over Aurora's face, and she shoved his hand away. "That's nothing. I'm just – tired, okay? I haven't slept in – Force, I don't even remember how many days now! I'm freezing my ass off, I just got put in charge of all you idiots, and – I'm just having a bad day, alright? It happens."

"Of course it does." Wes soothed, patting her shoulder ineffectively. "Being put in charge of all of us would be enough to drive anyone to tears."

Aurora snorted out a somewhat shaky laugh.

"In fact, there's been many a night while walking past this very door that I'd hear the sounds of crying and find Luke sobbing face down in his datafiles."

"Probably because of something you did." Hobbie commented dourly.

Wedge sighed. It was apparent that Aurora wasn't willingly going to discuss what was bothering her. Not without a fight. But there were other methods than direct confrontation. He leaned back against Luke's desk and crossed his arms over his chest. "So, is that what happened? You were perusing Wes' personnel file and it drove you to tears?"

"Not that it wouldn't do that to anyone." Tycho added.

Aurora looked a little less tense than she had when they'd walked in. She laughed. "No, amazingly enough. That wasn't it. It was just -." She rubbed her face tiredly. "A whole lot of things."

"Like Luke?" Tycho asked delicately.

"That certainly didn't help." She shuddered. "It was so close. We came so close to losing him. He wouldn't have lasted much longer, out there in the weather."

"But we didn't lose him. Thanks to you and Han, he's safe here at base and recovering in the medcenter."

"I know, I know!" Aurora ran her hands through her hair impatiently and she paced up and down the small office. "And everything should be okay, but – it's not. _I'm_ not and it's pissing me off! I'm driving myself nuts acting like this."

"Give yourself a break, Aurora." Wedge said, watching her with concern. "You've been through a pretty traumatic experience. Anybody would have some problems dealing with it."

"But that's just it!" She said, turning on him. "I'm not just _anybody_. I'm supposed to be a fracking Jedi Knight, remember? Guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. Somehow I just don't see one of the Defenders of the Force breaking down because of a stupid dream."

_Ah hah!_ Wedge thought. _Here it is._ "A dream?"

Realizing what she'd said, Aurora abruptly stopped pacing and turned away. "Nevermind. It's nothing."

"I take it this was a bad dream?" Tycho asked. "A vision?"

She shook her impatiently. "No. Just a dream – just a stupid, pointless dream."

_That obviously upset you. _Wedge reflected. "A dream about what?"

"Nothing. It was just -. We didn't make it time, to find Luke, and it was my fault because I couldn't – _didn't_ listen to the Force." She shuddered as if she was experiencing the dream again.

"But you did…didn't you?" Hobbie asked in some confusion. "I mean, isn't that how you found Luke, by using the Force?" They'd all heard the story from the other women who had been in the room when Aurora had shot up out a dream, calling for Luke, somehow knowing he was in danger long before anyone else at the base could have.

"Yes, but- ." She began now, and then stopped seeming to gather her thoughts. "I almost didn't. I wanted to ignore it as just a dream, but I couldn't. It was too strong. And then later, when Han and I went out after him, I told him I could use the Force to find Luke and I didn't even know if I could. I'm relying on it when half the time _I_ don't even expect it to work, and that's dangerous. For me _and_ anyone else around me."

Wedge exchanged a worried glance with the others and there was a long moment of silence.

"Are you doubting the Force or doubting yourself?" He finally asked.

"I don't know." Aurora whispered. "And what kind of answer is that, for a Jedi?"

The conversation had been interrupted by a call from the medical center reporting that Luke was conscious and Aurora had rushed off to see him leaving the others in a disturbed silence.

"It's almost as if she doesn't want to _be_ a Jedi." Hobbie finally ventured.

"No," Wes replied firmly, her eyes fixed on the toes of his boots. "It's that she doesn't trust herself to be the kind of Jedi she thinks she _should_ be."

Tycho nodded. "So she's doubting herself, but at the same time expecting too much of herself. Which is dangerous."

"So what do we do?" Hobbie asked, his face looking more dour than usual.

"We watch her." Wedge replied firmly. "And we tell Luke."

Luke awoke slowly. At first, everything was dark and blurry. He felt movement next to him and a hand touching his. A soft voice murmured his name. A female voice.

He turned his head towards her, squinting against the light.

"Aurora?"

There was a slight hesitation, and then the voice answered. "No, Luke. It's Leia."

"Where am I?" His eyes were slowly adjusting to the lights and he could see her sitting in a chair next to him. He was in some kind of bed.

"You're in a recovery room in the med center." She leaned towards him, concern on her face. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Yeah." He reached up and felt the claw marks on his face. "Some kind of snow creature jumped me and tried to make me a frozen dinner. Then Han and Aurora rescued me." He glanced around the room, trying to repress the feeling of disappointment that Aurora hadn't been waiting for him to awaken. "Where are they?"

Leia grimaced slightly, then immediately turned it into a smile. "Han and Chewie left to try to fix the Falcon. They said they'd check in once you were awake. Aurora's with Rogue Flight. She's been filling in for you as Rogue Leader. I'm sure she'll be along shortly." However hurt she was that Luke had asked for Aurora first, Leia didn't want to make him feel bad and he was obviously looking forward to seeing the other woman.

Before either of them could say anything else, the door to the room opened and Artoo and Threepio entered.

"Master Luke, sir," Threepio exclaimed, relief evident in his voice. "It's so good to see you fully functional again."

Artoo, next to him, beeped cheerfully.

"Artoo expresses his relief, also." Threepio translated.

Luke smiled at both of them, then looked up hopefully as the door opened again. He tried to control the disappointment that ran through him when he saw Han and Chewie come in.

Chewie growled his hello.

Han deliberately avoided looking at the Princess, instead heading straight to Luke.

"How are you feeling, kid? You don't look so bad to me. In fact, you look strong enough to pull the ears off a Gundark."

"Thanks to you and Aurora." Luke replied.

"That's two you owe me, junior." He smiled wickedly. "You'll have to settle your own account with Aurora."

Luke blushed and Han's grin widened, before he turned to Leia.

"Well, Your Worship. Looks like you managed to keep me around for a little while longer."

Leia lifted her chin, every inch the princess. "I had nothing to do with it. General Rieekan thinks it's dangerous for any ships to leave the system until we've activated the energy shield."

Han smirked. "That's a good story. I think you just can't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight."

"I don't know where you get your delusions, laser brain." She said wearily.

Chewie urrfed in laughter.

Han turned to glare at him. "Laugh it up, fuzzball. But you didn't see us alone in the south passage."

Luke, who had been doing his best to pretend he wasn't there, couldn't help but glance up at this, uncertain what to feel. Leia looked flushed and embarrassed.

"She expressed her true feelings for me." Han continued, watching Luke glance between the two of them, a slight frown on his face.

"My…! Why, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy looking nerfherder!" The princess exclaimed furiously.

Chewie laughed again, but Han managed to look mildly offended. "Who's scruffy looking?" Enjoying himself immensely, he turned to Luke. "I must have hit pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh, kid?"

Luke opened his mouth to reply, but before he had chance, Leia stepped forward, her chin set dangerously. "Well, I guess you don't know everything about women yet." With this, she turned to Luke.

Chewie was the only one to see Aurora standing in the doorway to the recovery room just as Leia bent over and pressed her lips against Luke's. The redhead froze in the doorway. For a moment her emotions were plain to see before she deliberately pasted a cool, amused smile on her face. As Leia pulled away from him, Luke looked startled then smug, stacking his hands behind his head in an act of supremely male satisfaction. Leia cast a somewhat triumphant glance at Han, then as she turned to leave, she saw Aurora in the doorway. As their eyes met, there was a slight hesitation to Leia's step, a moment when she looked as if she wanted to apologize, but the moment passed and instead, she lifted her chin slightly and walked past the other woman out of the room. The others in the room were quiet. Han was scowling and Chewie highly amused. Aurora leaned casually against the doorway and broke the silence.

"Well, I was going to ask how you were doing, but I guess I can see for myself."

Luke turned towards her, startled. He'd been unaware that she was there until she'd spoken. How much had she seen? Judging by the amused look on her face, everything. He started to blush guiltily.

"The Princess has quite the bedside manner. Guess that could make getting injured pretty popular, huh, Commander?" She walked casually into the room, that cool amusement still visible on her face and in her voice.

Luke flushed deeper. Why did he always end up feeling like a fool around her?

Chewie guffawed at her words, but Han just scowled more. Before anyone else could say anything, an alarm was heard from the corridor and the loudspeaker requested all headquarters personnel to report to the command center.

Han moved towards the door immediately. "Take it easy, kid." There was an edge of hostility to his voice as he said it.

Chewie followed him, calling a goodbye to both Luke and Aurora. He really wanted to stay and see what would happen, but duty called. Besides, the cubs looked like they needed a little privacy. Humans. They made everything so difficult. He nudged Threepio. The droid twitched as if startled. "Yes?"

Chewie gestured at the doorway.

"Oh, yes, of course. Excuse us, please." The droid turned towards Luke and Aurora. Before he could continue talking, Chewie pulled him out the door, followed closely by Artoo who tweeted a goodbye. The door closed behind them with a swish that sounded too loud in the suddenly quiet room.

"I should go too." Aurora said, but she didn't move towards the door.

"You just got here." Luke protested.

"After all, I don't want to tire you out." An edge of something slipped into her voice. "Not that you appear to be all that tired, from what I could see."

Luke flushed again at the mention of the kiss. Not that it had even been that much of a kiss. Barely a press of lips. Nothing to even be annoyed about. And anyway, what right did she have to sound ticked off about it? They had no claim on each other. If he wanted to kiss someone or someone wanted to kiss him, Aurora had no right to – wait a minute, was she jealous? She sounded jealous. A sudden thrill went through him at the thought and he had to fight to keep his face from showing it.

"Why, does it bother you that Leia kissed me?

She snorted in disdain. "Oh, please."

"Jealous?" He asked, folding his arms across his chest and keeping his eyes on her.

"Of you? Don't flatter yourself. I couldn't care less who kisses you. I just think it was rather petty of Leia to use you to make Han jealous." Aurora lifted one eyebrow, "You do realize that's why she did it, don't you? Or did that kiss rattle what little intelligence you have?"

Normally a remark like that would have had him furious, but he was beginning to pick up on something: when the conversation got too personal, she'd insult him and start a fight. Whatever she said to the contrary, she was jealous. He could feel it. Now, whether it was jealousy over her best friend or something more personal, that was a different story, and he was anxious to find out which. Maybe almost dying had made him willing to risk more or maybe he was just reckless, but they had come to this edge before and one of them had always backed down. This time, Luke was going to push it.

"It's entirely possible, but I'm still smart enough to recognize when you're lying."

Aurora sighed dramatically. "You poor deluded male. I hate to be the one to break the Princess' motives to you, but – ."

He interrupted her. "I'm not talking about Leia. I'm fully aware of why she kissed me. I'm talking about why it seems to bother you so much."

For a moment, green eyes locked with blue. "Check your ego, Skywalker. I told you, I'm not jealous."

"Prove it." He said softly.

"And how do you expect me to do that?"

"Kiss me."

Her eyes widened and her breath caught. She simply stared at him for a moment then managed a shaky laugh. "Kiss you? And what exactly do you expect that to prove?"

He managed to shrug casually, though his heart was pounding. "If you don't care about me that way, then it shouldn't bother you at all to kiss me."

"I think the cold rattled your brain, Skywalker." Aurora stated, taking an instinctive step back..

"Maybe so, but I still say prove you're not jealous."

"I don't have to prove anything to you."

Luke smiled slightly. "No, you don't. But the fact that you're so reluctant to kiss me sure makes me wonder why."

She tried to make light of the situation, hoping to divert his attention. "You know, if you're so desperate to be kissed, I can go find the Princess again. She might be willing to oblige you." She made a move as if to walk away, but Luke leaned forward and caught her arm.

"Possibly. But I don't want a kiss from Leia. I want one from you."

The tension in the room was thick. She'd felt it before, but previously, they'd always done their best to ignore it, pretending it wasn't there until it went away. Now, Luke was bound and determined to confront it head on and in a way that might have disastrous consequences. This was a line in their relationship that they had done their best to never cross. If that changed, what might happen to their friendship? Could they just go back to the way it was, or would the knowledge of things more intimate always be there, interfering? It was that knowledge that held her in place, even though the thought of kissing him made her almost dizzy.

Luke, holding her wrist, could feel the pounding of her pulse. It echoed to the counterpoint of his. Even as she stared at him, he saw her eyes drop to his mouth and then back up. His stomach tightened at that look.

"You're just out of the bacta tank, Luke. This isn't a good idea."

"I'm fine. You're not going to hurt me."

"But I could." She almost whispered. They both knew she was no longer talking about s physical harm.

He used his hold on her wrist to tug her closer. "One kiss, Aurora. Just one."

"Just one." She repeated her eyes locked on his, almost drowning in the blue. They had darkened, she realized, even as, almost without conscious thought, she was leaning down, closer to him.

Luke waited with almost inhuman patience. It had to be her choice; she had to make the move, not him. He watched her moisten her lips; her teeth digging into her bottom lip in a movement he knew meant she was nervous. It was a habitual gesture; one that he didn't even think she was aware of, but one that drove him crazy with desire. Watching her do it now, from this close almost broke his control. All he could think of was having that mouth on his, scraping his own teeth over that full bottom lip. Hanging on to the ragged shreds of his control, Luke waited breathlessly for her to lean in just those last few inches.

Seeming to suddenly make up her mind, she whispered, "Remember this was your idea," and bent her head. Their lips had just brushed when Aurora's comlink suddenly squawked loudly. Both of them jumped apart as if they had been blasted.

Hands shaking, Aurora fumbled at her waist to grab her comlink. "Kenobi," She answered breathlessly.

"Commander Kenobi, General Rieekan requests that you come to the command center immediately."

"Tell him I'm on my way." She was flushed and her heart was still pounding from the near kiss. Avoiding Luke's eyes, she rehooked her comlink to her waist. "I've got to go."

"I heard." Luke wanted to scream with frustration, but he managed to keep his voice almost level.

She started to say something and then shook her head, turning away and heading for the door. Just as she reached it Luke called her name.

She turned to see him watching her. There was a look on his face she'd never seen before, but it made her stomach muscles tighten and sent a flash of heat through her.

"This isn't finished." He warned a challenge evident in his voice.

"I know." She shivered and stepped through the door without looking back.

Reviews would be wonderful…


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The usual…I own nothing.

A/N: I apologize ahead of time for this part. I'm not very good at writing battle scenes.

Aurora entered the command center still flushed. She hoped no one noticed, or if they did, they blamed it on her hurried rush through the base. She was trying desperately to keep her mind off what had just occurred, or nearly occurred, in the medcenter.

"Commander Kenobi, thank you for coming so quickly." General Rieeken said as he saw her. He and Leia were standing near a tactical display, listening to a comlink.

"General." Aurora replied, her voice still somewhat breathless. She exchanged somewhat cool nods with the Princess. That kiss was still uppermost in both their minds.

Rieekan explained the situation quickly. "We've got an unknown contact in sector five. Solo and Chewbacca are investigating. I've sent Rogues Ten and Eleven to station three-eight as backup for them. I'd like you to have the rest of the squadron on standby, just in case."

"Yes, sir. I'll get them ready now." She started to leave when the comlink beeped and Han's voice came through, crackling with static. He detailed his actions with the intruder, ending with: "Afraid there's not much left."

"What was it?" Leia asked.

"Droid of some kind." Han replied. "I didn't hit it that hard. It must have had a self-destruct."

"An Imperial probe droid." Aurora declared.

"It's a good bet the Empire knows we're here." Han answered her.

"We'd better start the evacuation." Rieekan stated grimly.

The two women exchanged worried glances, any animosity temporarily forgotten.

"I'll get the Rogues." Aurora announced and left the command center at a dead run, calling Rogue Flight to action even as she cleared the door.

Wedge was receiving last minute instructions from Aurora when he suddenly heard her breath catch and saw her cheeks flush. Wondering what had caused such a reaction in the normally collected Commander, he turned his head, searching the hangar deck. He followed her gaze to where Luke was standing next to the Millenium Falcon, talking to Chewbacca. Even as he watched he saw the giant Wookiee lift Luke into his arms in a hug and saw the laughter spreading across his friend's face. Next to him, Aurora cleared her throat. She continued her instructions, deliberately avoiding looking in Luke's direction. Unfortunately for her, Luke had spotted them and headed right over.

"Luke. How are you feeling?" Wedge greeted the other man.

"I'm fine, Wedge. Thanks."

"Next time you decide to go for a stroll, you might want to check the weather report." The Corellian pilot teased his friend.

Luke laughed, but his eyes remained on the woman standing silently next to them. "I'll try to remember that."

Wedge chuckled, but the other two didn't join in. The silence grew uncomfortable and the Corellian cleared his throat awkwardly, glancing back and forth between his companions. He rubbed at the back of his neck. "Uh, so – I guess I'll just go, uh, check on my speeder." He forced a laugh. "Make sure Janson hasn't been fooling with my seat controls or anything."

"Probably a good idea, knowing Wes." Luke said, wryly.

"Yeah." Wedge cast another glance at Aurora who hadn't uttered a word since Luke joined them. She was studiously staring at the activity around them, but a flush was riding her cheeks. "So, I'll just, uh, go. See you later." He waved and hurried away, blowing out a relieved breath at escaping the awkwardness. What was going on with those two? He'd never seen them so ill at ease with each other before.

The silence left after his departure grew even more uncomfortable. Luke desperately wanted to say something, anything, in order to get Aurora to look at him, but he couldn't think of what. He felt clumsy and out of his depth, like the farm boy he was. Finally, the tension got to be too much.

"Look, Aurora, I – ," he began.

"Luke, I'm -- ." She said at the same time.

Luke gave a strained laugh. "Sorry. Go ahead."

Aurora huffed out a breath. "I told you this wasn't a good idea."

"What?"

"This." She gestured between them. "We can't even talk to each other anymore."

"We're talking now." Luke joked lamely, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

Aurora gave him a withering look. "You know exactly what I mean. One small incident and now everything between us feels strained."

Disappointment tugging at his heart, Luke tried to keep his face and voice neutral. "So, what are you suggesting?"

She dropped her gaze to the floor. She couldn't look into those eyes and still maintain her resolve. "I think we should forget it and try to pretend nothing ever happened."

"Nothing ever happened." Luke repeated tonelessly.

Aurora flinched, but didn't look at him. "Yes."

"Fine, Aurora, whatever you want." His voice sounded harsh, even to him.

Devastated, her eyes flew up to his. "Luke, please." One hand reached out as if to touch him, then she thought better of it and it dropped back to her side. "I care about you too much to risk what we already have. I don't want to lose my best friend."

Luke wanted to yell and rage. He wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her, and yet at the same time he wanted to kiss her until she couldn't stand. He struggled to control the emotions that were storming through him, to try to rein in some control. After all, it wasn't her fault that she didn't feel the same way he did; it wasn't something he could force. And acting like a spoiled brat because he didn't get what he wanted was only going to add incentive to her resolve to remain friends. Still, it was hard to have come so close to what he'd been dreaming about for ages and have it snatched away at the last second, before he'd barely gotten a taste.

He just needed to accept that it might never happen; that maybe he and Aurora were just destined to be good friends. And why did that thought send a shaft of despair through him so bleak that he felt his heart ache?

But this wasn't the time and it certainly wasn't the place. He could already feel eyes peering at them, wondering what Rogue Leader and his second-in-command were discussing so intensely. Taking a deep breath and pushing all of the swarming, confusing feelings to a place deep inside where he wouldn't have to deal with them right now, he managed to touch her shoulder hesitantly.

"You won't." He gave her a half-hearted smile as he finally responded. "You can't get rid of me that easy."

Aurora glanced up at him in surprise. He was actually sort of managing to smile. She realized that he was attempting to do as she asked and put this behind them. Grateful for his attempt to lighten the mood, she smiled back and searched for a change of subject, something far more neutral. "So, did they release you from the medcenter or are you a fugitive?"

"They released me. I guess Twoonebee figured it didn't matter since we were evacuating anyway."

"Either that or he just got tired of listening to you nag at him." Aurora retorted.

Luke attempted to look offended. "I beg your pardon. I do not nag. Leia nags. I whine."

She laughed, as he'd intended, then slowly sobered. Her eyes were on the claw marks on his cheek, visible reminders of his near death. "Luke, are you sure you're up to this?"

He nodded. "Yes."

She watched him for a moment, and then gave her own nod. "Alright then." With a sweeping gesture that included the speeders around them, she stepped back. "Rogue Flight's all yours, Boss. Take us up."

"With pleasure." He gave her a mock salute before turning and heading to his own speeder. Dack was serving as his gunner and had already done the preliminary checks.

"Feeling all right, sir?"

"Just like new, Dack." Luke replied. "How about you?"

The kid's whole face lit. "Right now I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself."

Luke glanced across the hangar to where Aurora was strapping into her own cockpit. She looked up and their eyes met briefly, a slight flush staining her cheeks.

Luke couldn't help the thrill that went through him. She wasn't as indifferent to him as she wanted to be. "I know what you mean." He replied quietly to his young gunner."

As the squadron raced towards their targets, the frozen snowfields beneath them passed in a blur.

Luke thumbed his comlink. "Echo station Five-Seven. We're on our way."

In the distance, he could just make out dark shapes that must be the Imperials.

"All right, boys, keep it tight now." He announced.

Behind him, Dack sounded nervous. "Luke, I have no approach vector. I'm not set."

"Steady, Dack." Luke assured him. "Attack pattern delta. Go now!"

The Imperials were firing now, the heads of the enormous walkers turning to track the incoming speeders. In front of him, he watched Aurora and Wedge's speeders fire on the lead walker, then bank to the right.

"All right, I'm coming in." He selected his target and flew directly towards it, diving between the legs.

Checking his rear scope, he failed to see his wingman. "Hobbie, you still with me?" He called into the comlink.

Receiving no answer, he twisted in his seat, trying to spot the other Rogue. "Anybody see Four?"

"He's fine, Lead." Wedge's voice replied. "He got a little crisped on that run, but made it through."

Luke sighed in relief, as he zeroed in on the closest walker, hearing the sound of Dack firing the guns repeatedly. The laser fire splashed against the side of the machine, but didn't penetrate.

On the other side of the battle, Aurora sent her speeder into a twisting climb, avoiding the searing bolts of laser fire from the monster behind her. Two other speeders shot past her, heading back towards her previous target. As they neared the Imperial, the giant head of the walker swiveled and fired, the bolts striking with deadly precision into one of the speeders. It went down in a ball of flames.

Aurora felt her blood freeze with horror as she yanked the controls hard to make a pass over the downed ship. "Four is down, repeat, Four is down."

Behind her, Nir'Deen was frantically trying to raise Hobbie on the com.

Aurora switched the signal. "This is Commander Kenobi, we need medical immediately. We have a pilot down." She listed the coordinates, desperately hoping Hobbie was still alive.

"Aurora? Where's Four?" Luke's voice came through, sounding calm, but worried.

"Hobbie's ship is down, Luke. No movement." She hated how cold her voice sounded, but there wasn't time for emotions. "I've contacted medical and given them the coordinates."

"Good job." He paused for a moment. "That's all we can do. Get back to work."

"Yes, sir." She hated to leave Hobbie alone, but the faster they took out these bastards, the faster they could get to Hobbie. She banked and headed back to the battle with a vengeance.

Anger and fear for his friend swirling in his gut, Luke headed for the lead walker. He dove straight for its viewport, firing constantly. The lasers lit up the viewport, but when the explosion dissipated, he could see that there wasn't any damage.

He lifted up and over the walker, swearing under his breath.

To himself he muttered: "That armor's too strong for blasters." He twisted the speeder around for another run and flicked the com. "Rogue Group, use your harpoons and tow cables. Go for the legs. It might be our only chance of stopping them." He turned off the com and called over his shoulder to his gunner. "All right, stand by, Dack."

Behind him, Dack flipped several controls. "Luke, we've got a malfunction in fire control. I'll have to cut in the auxiliary."

Luke swore again. It was always something. "Just hang on. Hang on, Dack. Get ready to fire that tow cable." He sent the ship on a jarring, spiraling course to avoid the heavy incoming laser fire. Dack was tumbled around in his seat, but gamely continued to struggle with the harpoon gun.

Suddenly, laser fire was all around them as another walker joined the leader to flank them. Luke had his hands full doing all he could to avoid the deadly storm. He could feel the jolts shaking the ship as some of the blasts made contact. He finally made it through the heavy volley and called back over his shoulder to check on his gunner.

"Dack?" Receiving no answer, he twisted his head, trying to see the younger man. "Dack!" The boy was slumped over the smoldering controls, blood running down his forehead. Luke closed his eyes briefly as anger and grief rose up in him again and he absorbed the loss of another friend.

Aurora was desperately trying to avoid a hail of laser fire when she heard a voice squawk out of the com. "Lead is hit!"

Recognizing the voice, she jabbed the link. "Two, report!"

Zev sounded a little calmer when he replied. "Luke took some fire, but he's still flying. Looks like most of it hit the rear."

Aurora let out a breath. He was okay. For now, he was still okay. She headed back into battle.

"Rogue Three."

Wedge responded instantly to Luke's hail. "Copy, Rogue Leader."

"Wedge, I've lost my gunner. You'll have to make this shot. I'll cover for you. Set your harpoon. Follow me on the next pass."

"Coming around, Rogue Leader." He could hear the grief and the guilt in Luke's voice. Lost another one. He knew Luke would blame himself. Not just another squadron member, but his own gunner. And so young. Behind him, Janson was silent. Pushing away his own sorrow, he headed out to do his duty.

As they approached a walker, he heard Luke's voice again. "Steady, Rogue Two."

Wedge threaded between the legs of the walker. "Activate harpoon." He ordered Janson.

The harpoon flashed out, hitting the forward right leg, just as Wes announced: "Harpoon away.

"Good shot, Janson." With a grim smile on his face, Wedge sent the speeder into a tight circle around the walker's legs, trailing the harpoon cable, which quickly wrapped itself around the machine's legs. Banking past the front of the walker again, Wedge checked his controls. "One more pass." He decided.

"Coming around. Once more." Wes confirmed.

The speeder made another swift pass. "Once more." Wes called.

Wedge flew the ship between the towering legs of the walker.

"Cable out!" Wes declared. "Let her go!"

"Detach cable." Wedge stated.

"Cable detached." Wes confirmed firmly.

As the speeder headed away from the Imperial machine, Wedge watched on his scope while it tried to take another step and found its legs restricted. The walker teetered for a moment, then slowly, almost momentously; it toppled over on its side in a spray of snow, ice and metal. Almost immediately, Rebel troops swarmed out of the trenches towards it.

Wedge let out a victorious whoop, echoed by Wes.

"Whooha! That got him!"

"I see it, Wedge." Luke's voice came over the com. "Good work." The two ships separated to target more walkers, spirits rising at the first sign of possible victory.

Aurora felt a surge of pride as she saw the walker go down. They could do this. Immense and invulnerable as the walkers seemed, they could be taken down and Rogue Flight was just the group to do it.

"Okay, Deen, let's go take down some walkers and show these males how it's done."

Her gunner laughed. "Yes, sir!"

She headed the speeder towards the nearest walker, weaving erratically to avoid the incoming flak, only half listening to the chatter on the com. She heard Luke's voice again. Sounded like he was running interference for Zev now. She heard him say something about crossfire and then tight and low. Amazing, how even in the middle of a battle, she could still be so attuned to his voice. She shook her head in self-disgust. "Not now!"

Just as she was finishing the final loop around a cabled walker, the sound of an explosion ripped across the com. Almost immediately a panicked voice called out: "Rogue Two is gone! Repeat, Two is gone. And Rogue Leader is down!"

Sickening fear choked her. Trying to control the surge of fear, she tried to focus on the Force. Forcing her voice to remain calm, she thumbed the com. "This is Rogue Seven. Status on Rogue Leader?"

"Commander, this is Lt. Edmonda at Echo Station Five-Seven. Rogue Leader took some flak in the explosion that took out Rogue Two. He went down, but the ship is still intact. I'm sending troops for rescue and evac right now."

"Thanks, Five-Seven. Keep me informed."

"Yes, sir. Wait –."

The fear surged back in the few seconds between words.

"I'm seeing movement. The canopy just came up and -yes! Commander Skywalker is getting out. He's alive!"

Aurora felt light headed from the relief. _He's alive!_ She heard the words echoing in her head. "Thank the Force! When you pick him up, tell him I've got command."

"Uh, we can't do that, Commander. Pick him up, I mean. He's, uh, heading back into the battle."

"The ship is still flyable?" She asked in surprise.

"No, he's, uh, heading back on foot."

"What?" Her voice must have been sharper than intended because the voice on the other end of the comlink sounded almost scared.

"He headed back towards the walkers. We can't see him from here."

Wedge broke into the conversation, sounding half amused half worried. "I've got him on my scopes, Seven. He's underneath a walker, looks like he's firing something."

Behind her, Nir'Deen snorted. "What's he planning on doing, taking these things out with a blaster?"

"No, it looks like -." Wedge's voice broke off then came back full of disbelief. "He took the harpoon gun out of the speeder and just shot it into the belly of the walker. Now he's being pulled up the cable.

"Kriffing idiot!" Aurora swore viciously. "What does he think he's doing?" She desperately wanted to fly over and check on Luke herself, but she was needed right where she was. "What's our illustrious leader doing now?"

"I don't know." Wedge replied. "I can't see him. He's dangling underneath the walker somewhere. Wait! I just saw a flash of bright blue light. I'm not sure what it was."

"Lightsaber." Aurora replied grimly.

"What the hell does he think he's going to do with a lightsaber?" Nir'Deen asked.

Her teeth gritted while she swooped around another walker, Aurora had to take a moment to reign in her anger and worry before she could answer. "He's cutting through the armor."

"Why?" The Twi'lek questioned in disbelief.

Before her commander could answer, Wedge's voice came back through the com. "Luke just dropped from the walker! He's down in the snow!"

"Hit?" Aurora asked her voice tight with dread.

"I don't know. I didn't see anything. Hang on." There was an agonizing pause before Wedge replied again. "No, he's okay. I just saw him lift his head, but – Blazing Stars! The walker just exploded! It just blew up, from the inside!"

"Is Luke okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine. The walker was a ways away from him when it blew."

"Thanks, Wedge. Get his coordinates to Station Five-Seven so they can pick him up. I think he's had enough fun for the day. Bloody damned moron!" Aurora switched com channels. "Lt. Edmonda, this is Commander Kenobi. Rogue Three is going to send you Commander Skywalker's coordinates. Send someone out there to get him immediately; he may be hurt. Bring him back to the base, by force if necessary. That's an order."

"Ah, yes, sir, Commander." The lieutenant sounded intimidated.

"Kenobi out." She switched the channel back and leaned back in her seat, feeling the tension drain out of her shoulders. Luke was safe, and at least for now, he was out of the battle. "Idiot! Kriffing sith-spawned idiot!"

"Ah, Aurora," Nir'Deen's voice sounded amused. "You do realize that you can't order Luke back to the base, don't you? He's your commanding officer."

"I'm fully aware of that."

"Well, I thought you might have forgotten since you didn't bother to switch off the com before calling your commanding officer nasty names."

Hearing muffled laughter; she looked down and realized that the com was still on. She'd switched back to the squadron channel after speaking to the base, but hadn't turned it off. "Are we in battle here or on break? Get back to it and take the rest of these bastards out." She snapped at the rest of the squad, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. With an irritated twist of her wrist, she zeroed in on the closest walker and prepared to take it down.

If at all possible, I'd really like some reader input on the story….


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: The usual…I don't own them.

It seemed like days later when Aurora found herself trudging towards her X-Wing, Wedge and Wes at her side. She was bone weary and they still had to get off this planet and past the Star Destroyers waiting in orbit. Although, from what intel she could gather, it sounded like they were pretty scattered, chasing the transports. Shouldn't be too hard for three small fighters to slip past them. Make that four small fighters, she thought, spotting a lone figure standing next to the four X-Wings. Somehow she wasn't too surprised to see Luke waiting next to his ship. He was the flight Commander. He wouldn't leave while he still had men on the ground. And she had a feeling, from the way his eyes were focused on her that he had waited specifically for her. The idea both warmed her and scared her.

"Enjoying the weather, Commander?" She asked sarcastically as they drew close enough to talk.

"I thought I'd work on my tan while I had some free time." He returned.

"You feeling alright?" Wedge asked, ignoring the byplay. "That was quite a drop from that walker."

"Pretty good." Luke answered then cut his eyes back to his second in command. "For a kriffing sith-spawned idiot."

Aurora winced while the other two men grinned and moved towards their ships.

"Figures that in the middle of evacuating a damn planet somebody would find the time to get that back to you."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "You're lucky we're in the middle of evacuating a damn planet or you'd be on report."

"Is that why you're waiting here?" Aurora damned herself the minute the words left her tongue. It was just going to lead to another uncomfortable discussion about their feelings.

But to her surprise Luke didn't look uncomfortable. Instead, his face changed into serious lines. "I thought we'd better discuss our plans." When she looked blank, he elaborated. "Dagobah."

She blinked. "You want to go _now_?"

"What better time? In all the confusion of escaping, no one's going to notice right away if we don't immediately show up at the rendezvous."

She glanced around quickly; to make sure Wes and Wedge weren't in ear shot, but they were busy getting their X-Wing's prepped.

"You realize that you're talking about going AWOL?"

He nodded grimly. "What choice do we have? It's not like we can get leave in the middle of the war."

Aurora glanced at the X-Wing looming above her and then at their companions. If they did this, there was a good chance they wouldn't be able to come back to the Rebellion. They'd be court marshaled for desertion. Was pursuing the possibility of becoming a Jedi worth giving up the only home, the only family she had? She thought of her mother, dying, her missing husband's name the last word on her lips; she thought of her father, giving up his own family and even his life, so that the Jedi could survive.

Luke waited for her response. He didn't want to do this without her. It wouldn't feel right. He needed her with him. For whatever reason: friendship, companionship, whatever. She was necessary. He watched her eyes turn towards Wedge and Wes again, then back to him.

"Wedge should be able to handle command while we're gone."

Luke let his breath out in relief. "Yeah, he should. We'll send them ahead, stay behind for some reason. I'll have Artoo plot the coordinates for Dagobah."

He started to turn towards his ship, but stopped when Aurora put her hand on his arm. "Luke, we need to tell them, Wedge and Wes, something. We can't just let them think we -." She stopped, unwilling to say the word.

Luke rubbed his chin, thinking. "We can't tell them where we're going. I don't think it's supposed to be general knowledge."

"No, but a hint. Just something to let them know that we're missing on purpose. So they don't end up trying to mount some fool rescue mission."

He nodded. "Good point. We'd probably end up having to rescue _them_."

"What are you two doing? Giving the Imperials a fair chance?" Wedge demanded, coming around the wing of his ship. "Let's get out of here."

Within moments, the four fighters had lifted off and we're blasting towards space. In the confusion leftover from the ion blasts and the other ships' departures, it was simple enough for them to slip through the debris and away from the planet, exchanging only a few volleys with the remaining Star Destroyers.

Aurora heard her com crackle and then Luke's voice. "Looks like those Destroyers might be trying something. Wedge, you and Wes head for the rendezvous point. Aurora and I will be right behind you. I just want to make sure that everyone got away."

"What? Those Destroyers can't possibly catch us." Wes blurted.

"Let's just be sure." Luke replied. "We'll be right behind you."

When Wes sucked his breath in again to argue, Aurora interrupted. "That's an order, Janson."

"Yes, sir." Wes muttered.

"Get going," Luke ordered, "And Wedge?"

"Yeah?"

"You're in command until we get back, got it?"

"Uh, yeah." The Correllian pilot sound confused.

"May the Force be with you." Aurora said quietly.

There was a pause and then Wedge's voice came back, an edge of concern riding it. "You too…with everything."

He clicked off and the two X-Wings headed off while Luke and Aurora watched them.

"Wedge knows." Luke stated quietly.

"Oh, yeah." Aurora was silent for a moment. "I hope that's enough to keep everyone from worrying."

"They'll still worry."

"Yes. Especially Leia."

Luke sighed. "I wish we could have said goodbye to her and Han."

Aurora didn't like the emotion she could hear in his voice and liked even less the feelings of jealousy that it invoked in her. "You can tell her goodbye later…after all, you'll get a chance when they court marshal us for desertion."

Luke snorted. "Probably." He shook himself. "Okay, enough maudlin stuff. Let's get out of here before those Star Destroyers really do catch up to us."

He had Artoo send her the coordinates for Dagobah that he had accessed and the last two members of the Rebel Alliance blasted away from the no longer hidden base on Hoth.

The two X-wings sped towards the distant planet. As they got closer, they could see that the planet was almost entirely blanketed in heavy cloud cover.

Artoo twirped a question to Luke.

"Yes, that's it. Dagobah." The young pilot replied.

"Looks damp." Aurora commented over the comlink.

Luke privately agreed, but he wasn't about to say so out loud. Artoo was already having misgivings.

As if on cue, the little droid beeped a hopeful inquiry.

"No, I'm not going to change my mind about this." Luke replied firmly, hoping his voice sounded more confident then he felt.

"I'm not picking up any cities or technology." Aurora reported. "Massive life-form readings though. There's something alive down there…" Her voice trailed off. Apparently she wasn't feeling any better about their decision to come here than he was. Not exactly a thought designed to make him feel better. What had Ben been thinking to send them here without any information? Or maybe that was the point. Was this whole thing designed as a test to see how much they were willing to trust in the Force? He hated all the second guessing he'd been doing lately. Just once he wished he could make a decision and just know that it was the right thing to do, without having to worry about all of the consequences.

Artoo broke into Luke's thoughts with a worried question.

"Yes, I'm sure it's perfectly safe for droids."

The two ships began to drop through the cloud cover. It was thick enough that his view screen was completely obscured and he was forced to rely on his instruments to guide him.

Suddenly an alarm began to buzz and Artoo let out a frantic whistle.

"I know, I know!" Luke replied, flipping various switches. "All the scopes are dead. I can't see a thing!" He flicked the com. "Aurora? Do you still have the use of your instruments?"

He waited for a reply, but heard only static. "Aurora? Are you there?" He could feel dread settle in his stomach as he was greeted with only dead air.

Behind him, Artoo let out a moaning whistle.

"Relax." Luke told him. "I'm sure everything is fine. The com is just out, that's all." He tried to reassure the little droid and himself at the same time. "Just hang on; I'm going to start the landing cycle."

He fired the retrorockets, hoping desperately that there was something underneath them to land on.

Tree branches suddenly appeared out of the fog, cracking and snapping as the ship pushed through them. Before he could begin to seriously panic, the ship settled on something with an abrupt jolt. The sudden silence in the cockpit was deafening. Luke heaved a shaky breath. Well, at least they were down…he hoped.

He tried the com again, but it was still dead. Fear wanted to take hold of him, but he fought it down. Aurora was fine. She had to be.

He popped the hatch on the X-Wing and inhaled sharply as warm, humid air poured into the cockpit, nearly overwhelming him with the scent of stagnant water and decaying plant life. Almost everything around him was obscured by the thick ground mist. He could just make out some twisted looking trees at the edge of the area lit up by the X-Wing's landing lights. Pulling himself out of the cockpit, Luke took a deep breath and shouted for Aurora. His voice seemed muffled by the clinging mist. The unseen creatures that had been calling to each other were suddenly silent. Luke called again, waiting breathlessly for an answer. But there was only silence.

Artoo popped out of his hatch and whistled, sounding worried.

Luke looked back at the little droid. "No, Artoo. You stay put. I'll have a look around."

Artoo beeped a hesitant affirmative as the young commander moved forward along the nose of the ship. He felt the ship rock suddenly and then there was a sharp electronic squeal, followed almost immediately by a loud splash. He whipped around to see that the droid had disappeared. Dropping to his knees, he tried to peer into the dark water that he could now see surrounded the ship.

"Artoo?" There was no response and the water remained still and dark. Feeling panic creeping up again, Luke called again, desperation evident in his voice. "Artoo! Where are you?"

Suddenly, a small periscope broke the surface of the water followed by a somewhat shaky beep. Luke's shoulders dropped in relief. "Artoo!" The periscope began to make its way towards shore.

"You be more careful." Luke admonished, feeling exhaustion creeping up in the wake of the adrenalin surge he had just experienced. He ran along the nose of the ship and jumped into the water, swimming only a few meters before he felt ground under his feet and was able to pull himself clumsily onto the muddy ground. He turned to watch Artoo's progress. The still submerged droid was humming a jaunty tune to himself as he made his way through the water.

Exasperated with the droid's nonchalance, Luke pointed an annoyed finger at the shoreline. "Artoo. That way."

Artoo beeped what sounded like an embarrassed apology and turned slightly. Luke caught a brief glimpse of a large dark form in the water behind the droid, and then it was gone. But the wake in the water make it clear that whatever it was, it was heading right for Artoo! There was a metallic sounding clunk from the water and then a sudden panicked electronic scream from the little droid before Artoo abruptly disappeared from sight with a shocking speed.

"Artoo!" Luke yelled, grabbing his lightsaber and wading back into the water, trying to spot the astromech.

But there was no sign of him. The water was dark and still around him. Luke felt despair start to overwhelm him. First Aurora and now Artoo. He couldn't have lost them. Suddenly, he saw a few bubbles break the surface of the water and then abruptly Artoo came flying out of the muck with a loud spitting sound. The little droid soared through the air before crashing onto the muddy shore. Luke staggered back towards him as fast as he could.

"Oh no!" He dropped to his knees next to his metallic friend. "Are you all right?" He struggled to lift the heavy droid back to his wheels. "Come on. You're lucky you don't taste very good." With a grunt, he got the droid upright. "Anything broken?"

Artoo let out a pathetic series of beeps. Feeling overwhelmed, Luke began to clean the muck off of the little droid.

"If you're saying that coming here was a bad idea, I'm beginning to agree with you." He sat back on his heels and stared around him at the ominous landscape. "Oh, Artoo. What are we doing here? It's like….something out of a dream, or, I don't know." Disgusted he let his filthy hands drop into his lap. "Maybe I'm just going crazy."

As if in agreement, Artoo spit out a large amount of muddy water from one of his ports. Luke sighed. Yep, that about summed up the situation they were in: sitting in the mud on some barely known planet, Aurora lost somewhere, his military career probably in ruins and no Jedi Master in sight. How pathetic was he?

************************************************************************

Aurora ran a hand through her hair in disgust, staring around her. There was nothing to see but mist, mist and more mist. And mud. Couldn't forget the mud. Not when it was everywhere. She tried calling for Luke again, but just as in her previous attempts, there was no response. Just the muffled echo of her voice in the damp fog that seemed to cling to everything in sight.

"Great." She muttered. Lost in the muck on some muddy disaster of a planet, with no clue where Luke was or this mysterious Master Yoda.

She slumped back against the X-Wing, her legs dangling over the wing.

"Lost are you?"

Aurora jumped and swore, aiming her blaster at the sound of the voice which was coming from somewhere near the ground.

Keeping her blaster trained towards the sound, she leaned over enough to view the speaker.

A small, green alien with large pointy ears was standing on the ground, calmly staring back at her.

"What do you want?"

The alien continued to stare at her curiously. "Help you I can."

"Yeah?" She asked suspiciously. "Help me with what exactly?"

"Your way to find."

Aurora rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. Who says I'm lost?"

The alien looked around at the surrounding swamp. "Come here not many do."

"I was looking for somewhere to find a little peace and quiet." She also looked at the mist shrouded landscape. "Looks like I found it."

Her companion chuckled. "Yes, yes. Quiet, yes." He nodded to himself and settled his hands more firmly on the gnarled walking stick he held. "But still, help you I can."

"I thought we already established that I didn't need any help."

"Help you find your friend I can."

Aurora froze. She'd been reluctantly amused by the little creature's harmless appearance and bizarre way of speaking, but his last words wiped away the spell. "What friend?"

"Came here with someone you did, yes? A companion? Lost him you did."

"How exactly did you know that?" She asked, sitting up straighter against the viewport of the X-Wing.

"Know many things I do. . Like, where is your friend, yes?"

"Why don't you share some of that knowledge with me?"

"Take you to him I can."

Aurora lifted the blaster and pointed it directly at him. "Or you can save us both some trouble and just tell me where he is."

The alien considered her for a moment and then turned and pointed into the trees. "There."

The young commander turned and studied the wall of grayish-green foliage. "Can you be a little more specific?"

The alien continued to stand patiently watching her. "Take you to him I can."

She sighed in futility and frustration. "I think we've just about exhausted the possibilities of this conversation."

"Trust me you do not."

Aurora snorted. "Not hardly."

Again the alien seemed to consider her. "Why?

"Because I don't know you or what you want." She replied.

"Told you I have what it is that I want. Help you to find your friend."

"Yeah, right. And I suppose you stand around this swamp all day just waiting to help find lost travelers. And you don't expect anything in return either, right?"

The alien shook his head, ears flapping slightly. "Expect nothing do I. Why think this do you?"

"Because everyone expects something. Everyone has an agenda."

"Cynical you are." The little alien sounded disapproving.

"No, just realistic."

"A good attitude this is not…for a Jedi."

She stilled, slowly turning her head towards him. "What?"

"Ah. Yes." The small green being smiled. "A secret it is, yes?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said flatly.

He sighed. "Pointless this is, and foolish. Come with me and find your friend, or here stay and get rained upon. Yours is the choice." He turned away and started towards the nearest group of trees.

Aurora hesitated, watching his back. Something didn't feel quite right here. Another swift glance up showed the same swirling fog that had been there since she landed. Nothing indicated it was going to rain. But if the little creature really did know where Luke was…. Why did this decision seem so much larger than it actually was? With a huffed breath, impatient with her waffling, she stood up.

"Hey, wait up. I'm coming." She slid down the ladder of the X-wing and quickly joined the alien.

"Of course."

"Nobody likes a smartass." She informed him.

His soft chuckle seemed to echo out of the trees and Aurora couldn't stop the quick shiver of apprehension that raced down her back as she followed him further into the dark swamp.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or anything related to it.

Slowly, out of the mists, something seemed to take form. At first, it was only a slight flicker, then it quickly grew into a square of light. A window, Aurora realized. As they got closer, she was able to make out the shape of a diminutive hut sitting alone in a small clearing. It was a pale tan color, obviously made from the mud in which it sat, and not much taller than she was. But considering they had been walking in a steady drizzle for the last few minutes, it looked just fine to her. She could smell the smoke that was rising from a squat chimney and something cooking. At a gesture from her guide, Aurora ducked her head under the short lintel and stepped into the tiny hut.

"Aurora!"

She turned to see Luke sitting on the floor in front of a tiny table, a bowl of something in his hand.

He dropped it on the table and stood up, having to bend low to avoid the too short ceiling. One step brought him to her side, and she was surprised to feel herself swept into a fierce embrace. It felt unbelievably good.

"Force, I didn't know what had happened to you! I was worried you hadn't made it down, but our host here said he knew where you were and was going to go get you." A slight scowl downward. "He told me I couldn't come with him, or he wouldn't go."

Aurora, all too aware of the heat of Luke's body through her damp flightsuit, and the slight disapproving look they had gotten from the little green alien as he made his way to the cooking area, pushed Luke gently away.

"So does our host have a name?"

Looking slightly rebuffed, Luke sat back down and picked up his bowl, more as something to play with than out of any real desire to eat it. "If he has, he didn't tell me. He just told me he knew where to find you and Master Yoda, and led me here."

Aurora sat down next to him cross legged. There really wasn't much room for the two of them, and she was all too aware of Luke's leg pressing into hers. "Master Yoda? How did you get on that subject?"

"He wanted to know why I was here. I told him I was looking for a Jedi Master."

"You told him that?" She looked at him incredulously and Luke shifted uncomfortably.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." A flush rose on his cheeks. It _had_ been a stupid thing to do. Mentioning the Jedi on any Imperial planet was a certain death sentence. He would never have done it anywhere else, so what had made him do it this time, with this little creature?

Aurora's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Then what?"

Luke shrugged. "He told me I was looking for Yoda and that he knew where to find him. I told him I couldn't look for Master Yoda until I found you. He knew where you were too, and told me he'd take me to his home and then go get you. I tried to argue with him, but he just ignored me."

Aurora frowned, casting a swift glance over her shoulder to where the little being was humming while he moved from table to bowl, chopping and mixing various things. "Ah, that's how he knew I had something to do with the Jedi." She lowered her voice. "So he knew where I was and he knows where Master Yoda is. He sure seems to know a lot about what we need to find out."

Luke leaned closer. "You don't trust him?"

Hearing their host coming towards them, Aurora deliberately shifted her voice into the drawling tones Han used when he wanted to be particularly irritating. "Sweetheart, I don't trust _anybody_."

Luke smiled.

With a slight humph, a bowl was shoved between the two of them, forcing Luke to lean back. "Eat, yes."

Aurora took it tentatively. It smelled odd and looked peculiar. "Um, thanks."

The little green alien huffed again and turned his large eyes to Luke. With an abashed air, but a smile tugging at his lips, Luke resumed eating. They'd have to continue their conversation later, preferably somewhere without their host in earshot. Luke was intrigued to find out why exactly Aurora didn't trust the small being.

Making small talk, he took another bite of the stew. It really wasn't bad. Better than Wedge's attempt at taun taun stew anyway.

"How far is Yoda? Will it take us long to get there?"

"Not far. Yoda not far. Patience." He turned away to stir the cooking pot, taking a small taste and nodding to himself. "Why wish you become Jedi? Hm?"

Aurora looked up from her bowl at the studied casualness of the question, but Luke answered easily. "Mostly because of my father, I guess."

The little creature nodded. "Ah, your father. Powerful Jedi was he, powerful Jedi, mmm."

Luke's eyes narrowed, Aurora' suspicions flowing through his mind. His voice was irritated when he spoke. "Oh, come on. How could you know my father? You don't even know who I am." Suddenly, the incongruity of the situation reached him. Here they were sitting cozily inside a warm hut, eating carelessly, while outside in the galaxy his friends were fleeing from the Empire, uncertain of what had happened to them, possibly dying. His notoriously short temper flared and he flung his bowl on the table in disgust. "Oh, I don't know what we're doing here. We're wasting our time!"

To his surprise, the green alien didn't react other than to turn away and sigh quietly.

"I cannot teach them. The boy has no patience. The girl has no faith." He said, apparently to empty space. Luke and Aurora exchanged startled glances, but he could see the same dawning awareness on her face that he was sure was on his.

Suddenly, another voice spoke out of the air.

"They will learn." It was Ben's voice. Luke saw Aurora flinch and he reached out one hand to cover hers.

The little creature turned to study him, his eyes seeming to see inside to his thoughts and dreams. "Hmmm. Much anger in him, like his father."

Ben's voice spoke again. "Was I any different when you taught me?"

Those large, all knowing eyes turned to Aurora. "No trust in her. She believes only what she can see and touch."

"As do many of the students when they first come to us."

"Hah. They are not ready."

It sounded final, and seeing his hopes slip away, Luke found his voice, certain of who he was addressing now. "Yoda! We are ready. We…Ben! We can be Jedi. Ben, tell him we're ready." In his anxiety, Luke started to stand, forgetting that the ceilings were so low and managed to hit his head. With a wince, he slowly sank back down.

Yoda turned to him, his eyes flashing contemptuously. "Ready, are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained!" He poked Luke with the end of his walking stick. "A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind." He turned away to address the unseen Ben again. "This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away…to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing." With each sentence, he poked Luke again. "Hmph. Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless!"

Luke's eyes fell in the face of the accusations. Every single one of them was true. He had spent his time dreaming of adventures and excitement instead of concentrating on what he was supposed to be doing. His uncle had made the same accusation, on more than one occasion. And his military career. At the first opportunity, he had abandoned it, racing off in search of a Jedi that no one had seen in over two decades. Reckless didn't even begin to describe it.

Once more, Ben's voice intervened. "So was I, if you'll remember."

"And this one." Yoda turned to Aurora, who was sitting silently, her face blank. "Not even sure that she wants to be a Jedi, are you girl? Doubts you have. No commitment." It was her turn to get poked and Luke worried for a moment that she was going to grab the stick and snap it half, but after one sharp, aborted movement, she remained still. Yoda contemplated her. "Fear you have." He said softly.

Her eyes raised to his and her voice was just as soft. "Shouldn't I have?"

"Hmmph." Yoda turned away. "They are too old. Yes, too old to begin the training." His words were pessimistic, but something in his voice seemed to indicate a softening in his reluctance.

Luke leaned forward. "But we've learned so much."

Once more, Yoda stared into his eyes, almost as if he was searching for something. Abruptly he turned back to the corner where he seemed to see Ben. "Will they finish what they begin?"

Tired of being spoken about as if he weren't there, Luke interrupted. "I won't fail you – I'm not afraid."

Yoda slowly turned back towards him, his teeth showing in a disturbing smile. "Oh, you will be. You will be."

Luke felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise, and out of the corner of his eye, saw Aurora shiver.

Luke awoke slowly. He felt stiff and sore, and at first he couldn't remember where he was. But as he sat up carefully and surveyed his surroundings, the memory came back to him: Yoda and the muddy swamp on the planet Dagobah. This was to be his first day of Jedi training. The thought had him sitting up eagerly. Or at least it would have if his spine hadn't been twisted into knots from the position he had been forced to sleep in. After the dramatic revelation of Yoda's identity and the following conversation, which he only later realized might have been some kind of test, the rain had still been pouring down outside, and Aurora and Luke had been forced to remain inside Yoda's tiny hut, trying to find enough space to at least get some sleep. Luke had tried to get Master Yoda to keep talking, but after Ben had left or disappeared or whatever, the little Jedi master had refused to speak about their training anymore, telling them it could wait for tomorrow. Now was the time for rest. Shortly after that, he had disappeared into the tiny alcove where his bed was, leaving his two new apprentices alone with each other and their thoughts.

Luke had been forced to wedge himself between the table and a chair, his back to the wall and his legs stretched out in front of him. It wasn't the most comfortable position and hardly conducive to sleep, but after a while he had managed it. Unfortunately, his neck was now protesting that idea strenuously. Across the room he heard a slight groan and saw Aurora push herself up to a sitting position. She had somehow managed to curl herself up around the furniture, so she had at least managed to lie down, but from the look on her face, it hadn't been any more comfortable for her than him.

"Ugh." She pushed at the hair that had fallen into her face. "I feel like I've been squashed by a Hutt."

"Mm." Luke agreed, trying to crack his neck.

"What do you think the odds are on us actually getting any caf this morning?"

Luke glanced around the cooking area, not seeing anything that he recognized. "Not good."

As if in reply, the door opened and Yoda limped in, letting in the dim grey light of morning and the fetid air from the swamp.

"Mmm. Good. Awake you are. Yes. Outside you come. Training you begin."

Aurora and Luke exchanged glances. "Um, Master Yoda, what about breakfast?" Luke asked tentatively.

The old Jedi turned to look at him, something that might have been amusement in his eyes. "Work up an appetite you must." With that he turned and headed back out.

Aurora banged her head lightly against the wall. "I hate my life."

The old Jedi hadn't been kidding. Every morning upon awakening he had them running a sort of obstacle course through the swamp. They jumped fallen trees, climbed vines and splashed through stagnant puddles, all the while lecturing them on the Force. As their lessons continued and their prowess drawing on the Force increased, he added leaps and flips to their repertoire.

Almost worse than the physical effort, was the effort of concentrating on the constant lecture that he kept up from one or the other of their backs.

"Run! Yes. A Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger…fear…aggression. The dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice."

Luke paused in his endeavors to glance over his shoulder at his master. "Vader."

Yoda closed his eyes and nodded.

"_Is_ the dark side stronger?" Aurora asked, stopping next to them, panting slightly from their exertions.

"No…no…no. Quicker, easier, more seductive."

Luke frowned, thinking about it, trying to recall what he had been feeling the few times he'd been able to call the Force to him. That time in the cave with the wampa. He'd certainly been afraid. So did that mean when he was able to call his lightsaber to him with the Force he had been touching the dark side? It certainly hadn't felt wrong, but what did he know? He put the question to Master Yoda.

"But how am I to know the good side from the bad?"

"You will know. When you are calm, at peace. Passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack."

Aurora was frowning too. Apparently this was just as confusing to her as it was to him.

"But tell me why I can't-?"

Yoda interrupted Luke in mid –sentence. "No, no, there is no why. Nothing more will I teach you today. Clear your mind of questions. Mmm. Mmmmmm." He gestured to Luke to lower him to the ground.

Aurora collapsed on a fallen log to catch her breath. She had hundreds of more questions, but they'd both learned early on that when Master Yoda decided he was done teaching, than he was done. No amount of nagging or questioning would coerce him to answer any more questions. She tried clearing her mind of those nagging thoughts, as Master Yoda had instructed, deliberately slowing her breathing, but for some reason, she found herself casting a quick glance over her shoulder. There was nothing there. Just trees and swamp. Shaking her head, she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate again, but once more, a feeling of unease stole over her and she found herself searching the nearby swamp again for an unseen danger.

"Something's not right here." She whispered.

Across the clearing from her, Luke had paused in the act of shrugging into his jacket. He was staring at the base of a huge, dead tree.

Aurora rose to her feet and crossed to him, studying the tree. It was much larger than most of the trees around them. When it lived, it must have towered over the surrounding forest. But that must have been centuries ago; for now it was ancient and blackened, surrounded by dank water. At its base, just barely, visible was what looked to be a cave. From its dark opening a miasma of evil seemed to seep.

"I feel cold, death." Luke murmured, his eyes focused on the malevolent-looking opening.

Yoda was sitting on a root, poking at the ground with his gimer stick. He glanced up at them briefly before returning his gaze to the ground. "That place…is strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is." Another swift glance up. "In you must go."

Luke and Aurora exchanged their own glances. He didn't look any happier than she did.

"Excuse me? You want us to go _in_ to the domain of evil?" She questioned. "Does that sound wrong to anybody else?"

Yoda didn't answer.

"What's in there?" Luke asked, still eyeing the cave with misgivings.

"Only what you take with you."

"Oh, of course." Aurora muttered under her breath. " 'Only what you take with you.'" She mocked. "Stupid Jedi mysticism."

Luke knew her cynical outburst was a cover for the very real feelings of fear that she was experiencing. He didn't blame her. He _really_ didn't want to venture into that dark opening. But he knew better than to voice that opinion to the old Jedi Master sitting on the tree stump. Master Yoda said to go in, so go in they would. He grabbed his weapons belt from the tree branch and began to buckle it on.

"Your weapons…" Yoda's voice stopped him. "You will not need them."

Luke studied the evil-looking cave for a moment, then glanced at Aurora with raised brows.

She glanced back and forth between the tree and their master, then her lips tightened and she strapped on her own weapons belt. "I'd rather have them and not need them, than need them and not have them."

Luke felt his lips quirk in a cynical smile. "Good point." He finished buckling on his belt and stepped forward to brush aside the vines hanging over the opening. He looked at Aurora and felt his grin widen. "Ladies first."

She snorted at the reminder of his offer to let her go first into the garbage chute on the Death Star and repeated what she had said to him then. "You're a true gentleman, Skywalker."

With that, she passed under the hanging vines and stepped into the cave, Luke following close behind her.

***********************************************************************

It was dark. Almost completely pitch black. Only a little light from the opening behind them filtered in. That and some irregular patches of dimly glowing phosphorescence from some kind of mold were the only sources of light in the cave. It was also slimy and dank.

"Pretty much what you'd expect from a domain of evil." She muttered, igniting her lightsaber with a familiar snap-hiss. Luke gave a hollow chuckle, his own lit saber held out in front of him. "Come on."

Together, they moved deeper into the cave.

Aurora could sense, more than see when the cave opened up around them. The light from their sabers seemed to pool around them, casting dim puddles of light against the darkness. As she moved forward, she could dimly see two openings in front of her.

"Which one do you think we should take?"

When she received no response, she turned her head to look at him. "Luke?"

But he was gone. There was nothing there. The only light was from her lightsaber.

"Luke!" Thinking he had somehow tripped or fallen, she retraced her steps, holding the lightsaber low so that she could see the floor of the cave. But there was no sign of him. The only footprints on the muddy ground were her own. There was nothing to indicate that he had ever been there with her.

Aurora took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. "Okay. Don't panic." The sound of her own voice steadied her somewhat. "You know he came in here with you, so it must be some kind of trick. Master Yoda had a reason for sending us in here. Domain of evil, remember?" She gripped the metal cylinder in her hand tightly. "Just keep moving forward and get through whatever this is." She turned around and headed back towards the two openings she had originally seen.

"Alright, left or right?" She couldn't see any difference between the two apertures. They were both jagged and dark, the blue light from her lightsaber reflecting off the slimy stone that made up the walls. There was nothing to distinguish one from the other. "You're a Jedi in training, remember? Be a Jedi, dammit." Closing her eyes, she tried to sense if there was anything that indicated one over the other, but the cold, metallic feeling of the Dark side was so prevalent here, that she couldn't sense anything else.

With a mental sigh, she opened her eyes and headed for the left.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own it; it belongs to George Lucas, yada, yada, yada.

A/N Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I'm working on my Master's thesis and it's amazingly hard! But I promise that I have not abandoned this story. Most of it is already written, there are just bits and pieces that I need to fill in. I'm also having some difficulties making certain that Aurora doesn't simply turn into a female version of Luke.

_When we last saw our intrepid young heroine, she and Luke had entered the darkside cave of Dagobah. Mysteriously separated from her companion, Aurora has continued into a tunnel on her own… (Just in case you forgot what's going on ____ )_

The opening wasn't very tall, and Aurora had to duck her head to avoid the lintel. After only a few steps down the tunnel, she began to see a faint light and she picked up her pace. The fine hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end, but then her skin had been just generally crawling since they had first entered this place. She emerged into a smallish chamber, dirt floored and rough walled. It appeared to be empty. From the sound of her footsteps, the ceiling was several feet above her head, and there were two openings on either side of the chamber. Before she could decide which way to go this time, a dark figured suddenly seemed to emerge from the ground directly in front of her. It wasn't much taller than her, but covered entirely in some sort of black cloak, complete with hood. The only thing she could see where a pair of eyes, glowing with a yellowish-red light. One white, clawed hand appeared from a sleeve and beckoned to her.

"At last. I have been waiting for you for some time."

The hood tilted to the side as if the figure was studying her. "You are much less than what I expected."

It took a step forward, and Aurora dropped her hand to her side, reaching for her lightsaber. But instead of the cool metal cylinder, her hand encountered the fabric of her pants. She risked a swift glance down, but there was nothing there. Not even the clip that it usually hung on. A frantic groping to the other side failed to discover her blaster hanging there either. A sick feeling of dread began to fill her, as the figure in front of her let out a wheezing chuckle.

"I can't imagine why I ever concerned myself with you in the first place."

She backed away frantically, her eyes darting right and left looking for something to use as a weapon.

"You pathetic child. You are nothing. You, who were too afraid to even pick up the mantle of the pathetic Jedi think to stand before the might of the Dark Side?" The dark figure continued toward her, yellow eyes glinting from within the dark hollow of the face. "I will crush you like the insect you are and then I will hunt down and destroy your friends."

"No!" Aurora tried to calm herself, to still the frantic beating of her heart and suppress the gut wrenching fear that was jolting through her, in order to reach the Force, but she couldn't manage it. Her hands were shaking, the sweat pouring off her and her breath coming fast. That quiet strength that she had only recently learned to feel was completely beyond her reach, and she suddenly realized what she had done. Somehow, through her own fears and uncertainties, she had shut off her access to the Force.

To her right, she heard a familiar shout. "Run, Aurora! We've got this!"

The sound of blasters was suddenly audible, and on her right, Wedge and the Rogues opened up on the dark figure in front of her. Before she could even begin to question what they were doing here, her hooded adversary lifted one hand, and ignoring the blaster fire all around him, almost casually flicked his wrist. Several bodies flew backwards, hitting the wall with sickening thuds to lie still on the cave floor. She saw Wedge glance at his fallen comrades, and with a vicious snarl, bared his teeth as he continued firing. However, none of the bolts where coming anywhere near the dark figure in front of her. They all seemed to stop a foot in front, leaving him free to deal with his attackers. Aurora leapt forward, trying to come at the Sith from behind, but she was frozen in place, unable to move. Still she kept trying until her muscles ached and the sweat poured off her, as one by one, the blasters fell silent as their owners were killed. Aurora watched in mute horror, as Wedge, the last Rogue standing, suddenly dropped his blaster, grasping at his throat with both hands. With a malicious cackle, the dark figure squeezed his hand tighter and tighter, while Wedge's face turned first red, then blue, his eyes bulging while his hands clutched futilely at his own throat. There was a stomach-turning crunch, and Wedge went limp, collapsing to the floor, his face black.

"No!" She whispered, standing frozen, her eyes still fixed on Wedge's face. Dimly, she could hear his murderer laughing next to her.

"I told you, my dear. All of your friends, one by one."

Another voice called from her left. "Run, Aurora! We'll hold him off!"

She snapped her head to the side. Han, Leia and Chewie were there, determination in their faces as they too began firing on her adversary. "No!" She yelled again, "You can't beat him. Run!" Again, she struggled desperately to reach the Sith. Her muscles were screaming and she couldn't catch her breath, but it didn't matter. She had to save them.

But just as before, she was unable to take a single step and one by one, her friends too fell to lie still on the damp floor.

Numb with horror, Aurora dropped to her knees sobbing and shaking, only able to watch as being after being entered from one side or the other, yelled for her to run, and attacked the dark figure, only to die where they stood. At last, the cave was silent save for the cold laughter of her foe, and her own ragged breathing. There was only one person of her acquaintance who hadn't appeared yet, and when she heard the almost silent footstep behind her, fear such as she had never known shivered up her spine.

Without bothering to look, she spoke hollowly. "Don't, Luke."

But even as she spoke, she knew it was pointless. There was the familiar snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting and then his voice. "Run, Aurora. This isn't your fight."

"No, it's not." She agreed, watching him approach the dark-clad Sith. A black metal handle appeared in the cloaked figure's hand and a dark red blade ignited. Luke's face was bathed in the glow of the two weapons, set in lines of stern determination as he raised his own weapon. The two blades met with a crackling snarl.

"But it was supposed to be, wasn't it?" She continued numbly, watching the battle. She was speaking to herself; the other two so engaged with each other that they were paying her no mind. "This fight should have been mine. But I was so frightened and selfish; so afraid of losing myself, of giving myself up to the ways of the Force, that I ignored what that meant to the rest of the galaxy." In front of her, the battle continued unabated. Luke was holding his own for now, but it was obvious to both her and her adversary that he wasn't as skilled as the other man. Again and again the glowing blades crashed into each other; each time Luke lost a little more ground. All around them lay the scattered, discarded bodies of those who had tried to stop the Sith. Aurora knew it was only a matter of time before Luke joined them. "My fight." She whispered. "My responsibility."

Desperate, she reached inside herself again, trying to find the Force. But her emotions were careening out of control, fear and anger and despair battling inside of her. Finally, she touched something that coiled around her mind with desperate energy. With a sobbing gasp, she yanked it towards her, frantically pulling more and more power to her. She could hear Luke's labored breathing and the dark chuckles of his opponent above the screeching of the blades, and knew she didn't have much time. With one last desperate pull, she threw all of the power she had gathered towards the dark-clad figure. As she released it, she saw Luke turn towards her, his face reflecting horror.

"No, Aurora!"

It was only then that she realized the power she had gathered had no sense of warmth or light to it; it was cold and dark and metallic feeling: the dark side.

Even as the realization gripped her with terror, she saw the red blade draw back and then swing forward.

"_Luke_!"

ESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESBESB

Outside, seated on a damp log, an ancient Jedi master pushed his gimmer stick into the mud and sighed, his ears dropping disconsolately.

(Sorry it's so short. I could have included what happened to Luke while in the cave, but I'm fairly certain you're already familiar with that….)


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own it; it belongs to George Lucas, yada, yada, yada.

(Author's Note…Again: Sorry if anyone out there has been waiting for this. I'm having a very hard time with the scenes on Dagobah for some reason. Trying to fit Aurora into the pre-existing action of the movie is proving harder than I thought. Also, I really wanted to have more personal interaction between her and Luke, but it's giving me a hard time and doesn't want to conform to my ideas. I'm not entirely satisfied with this…actually I really don't care for parts of it all, but I'm tired of rewriting it and struggling with it, so this is what you get. It's not like I'm getting paid for it anyway )

Aurora stared numbly at the place where Luke's body had fallen. It had disappeared completely, as if it had never been, but she couldn't stop staring at the spot. Vaguely, she was aware of the damp mud sinking into her pants from where she knelt on the floor of the cave, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Her mind was still reeling with the implications of the…dream? Vision? Whatever it had been, it had been disturbingly real. Sweat was still drying on her skin from her exertions and she could feel the stinging cuts on her hands from where she had sank her nails into her palms. She wasn't certain exactly what Yoda had meant to happen in this cave, but she knew without a doubt that she had failed.

A slight noise drew her attention to her right and she saw Luke leaning weakly against the wall of the cave. He looked pale and shaky; his face wearing a look of horrified disbelief and his lightsaber gripped so tightly in his hand that his knuckles were white.

She had to clear her throat twice before she could make her voice work. She wondered if she had really been screaming, or if that had only been in her mind.

"Luke?"

Haunted blue eyes turned in her direction. Aurora shuddered. She didn't know what vision he had been gifted with, but from the look on his face, she didn't want to.

"Can you walk?"

With a shudder, he pulled away from the wall, swiping one hand over his face as if to rid himself of the last of the vision.

"Yeah. Let's get the hell out of here." His voice was uncharacteristically rough.

She staggered to her feet. "My sentiments exactly."

The turned together and headed for the opening of the cave. Neither spoke, both too engulfed in their own thoughts and feelings.

Aurora sat on the edge of the swamp, absently tearing up pieces of grass and tossing them into the water. The clouds had cleared and she could see the stars reflected in the still water. As each piece of plant landed with a gentle plop, the ripples spread out from it, seemingly setting the small points of light rocking back and forth.

She watched the ripples expand across the dark water and couldn't stop her thoughts from zooming back to her experience in the cave. Ripples of influence. How trite and clichéd. But clichés were clichés for a reason, and she would have to be woefully blind to ignore the lesson imparted from the terrifying vision. Every action had an equal and opposite reaction. For every decision that any being in the galaxy made, there were consequences; the more powerful the being, the more powerful the reaction. She had been so focused on what was happening to her and how becoming a Jedi would affect her, that she had been ignoring the effect that it would have on the galaxy in general.

The galaxy needed Jedi. It wasn't that complicated. No matter how scared she was of losing herself, no matter how much the thought of devoting her entire life to this one cause terrified her, it didn't matter. Because people would die if she didn't. It was that simple.

It was the same reason that she had willingly thrown herself into the cockpit of a barely familiar starfighter and launched herself at the Death Star. She had skills that the Alliance needed in order to defeat the Empire and it would be beyond selfish to deny that. If she could save lives simply by risking her own, than she was obligated to do so. After all, she didn't fear dying. Dying was simple. It was something that happened to everyone eventually; there was no getting around it. So spending your life trying to avoid it was rather pointless. And dying in a starfighter was probably one of the better ways to go. One brilliant flash of light and it was over. Quick and painless.

Living, on the other hand, that was where it got complicated. And painful. Living was definitely far more painful and usually lasted longer. That was why becoming a Jedi scared her. To spend years trapped into this lifestyle, set apart from everyone by awe and fear, constantly having to control your actions and emotions for fear of what they might lead to…

But she was past that. The vision in the darkside cave had made that very clear. She either learned to use the Force or she risked losing everyone she loved. It was that simple. And given that kind of incentive, Aurora really didn't have a problem with it. She could set aside her fears and anxieties and accept the role that she was required to play if it meant saving her friends and the rest of the galaxy. Because there simply wasn't anyone else to do it, aside from her and Luke.

Luke. Now she came to the crux of the problem. The whole reason why she was sitting here in the dark, the wet ground slowly soaking into the seat of her pants, tossing bits of plant matter into the stagnant water of the swamp. Luke Skywalker.

She was well aware of just exactly why that vision in the cave was bothering her so badly. At first, remembering the entire experience had caused her hands to shake and sweat to break out on her forehead. But after she forced herself to calm down and carefully think about it, she had come to terms with the vision and taken what she could from it. She had learned her lesson. But, unfortunately, she had learned much more than that. She had also learned exactly what Luke meant to her.

It wasn't a coincidence that the cave had saved Luke's appearance for last. Apparently, the Force had wanted her to confront her feelings about this as well. She had tried to save the others, had pushed her body beyond its limits trying to stop them from dying, but she had failed. And as horrifying and torturous as it had been to watch their deaths, she could have gone on. It would have been painful, and she would probably never have been the same, but she would have survived their loss. Not so with Luke. It had only taken one clash of the lightsaber blades and Aurora realized she would do anything within her power and quite a bit outside of it to save him. Nothing was too much. She couldn't even begin to describe what she had felt when that glowing red blade had sunk into his body and he had crumpled to the floor. Even now, far removed from the situation, she could feel her heart speed up at the memory, her hands were clenching into fists, and red fury was sweeping across her vision.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to calm down; deliberately unclenching her hands and taking a series of deep breaths until the feelings of murderous grief began to recede and her vision returned to normal. With a grimace, she wiped the crushed bits of plants off her hands.

Clearly, her feelings for Luke went far deeper than she had realized. Which was a problem. A very large problem. Because she couldn't afford to have these feelings for Luke. Not now. There was too much riding on the two of them for either to take a chance on their relationship blowing up in their faces. Bad enough to have to work closely with your commanding officer after a failed relationship with him, but for two Jedi, who by the very nature of their partnership had to share feelings and emotions? Aurora shuddered at the thought. Devastating, and beyond humiliating.

So it simply wasn't an option. If she could control her anger and fear, she could certainly control this thing she had for Luke, whatever it was.

_Love,_ a little voice whispered in the back of her head. Aurora ruthlessly squashed it down. But she sat by the dark water for a long time, her thoughts whirling.

Aurora was upside down, her hands planted securely in the mud. Master Yoda was balanced on her feet, seemingly effortlessly. The blood had long since rushed to her head, but she was ignoring that. She was also ignoring how ridiculous this would look to an observer. Instead, she was concentrating on the swelling sensation of warmth that was rising in her. It was familiar by now and far easier to access. Focusing on two boulders on the ground in front of her, she concentrated and one of the rocks slowly lifted into the air to balance lightly on top of the other. A slight smile may have crossed her face, but it was hard to tell under the strain visible there.

Yoda's voice came softly from above her. "Use the Force. Yes…"

He tapped her leg firmly and straining even more, she carefully lifted one hand from the ground. Her body shifted precariously as her balance wavered, but with a visible effort, she steadied herself on one hand, feeling the sweat trickling down her face from her efforts.

At the edge of the clearing, she vaguely heard Artoo beeping about something.

"Now…the stone. Feel it." Yoda instructed.

Her body shaking under the strain, Aurora concentrated on the top rock. Seeing it resting lightly on the other, visualizing it rising…slowly into the air. Her teeth gritted, but hesitantly the rock lifted off the other, visibly unsteady.

Aurora's breath was wheezing in her lungs now with the exertion.

Suddenly, Artoo's beeping and whistling got more frantic and Aurora felt her concentration shift. Her grasp on the Force slipped and her body tipped sideways. Frantically, she tried to correct, slamming her other hand back down into the mud, but it was too late; she was too far off balance.

With a strangled "Concentrate!" Yoda jumped clear of her feet as she tipped sideways and crashed into the mud.

Gasping and wincing at her hard landing, she sent a withering glance at the little droid, ignoring the fact that Yoda was aiming the same look at her.

Across the clearing where he had been watching, Luke winced in sympathy, but moved quickly to the frantically rocking droid.  
"What's the matter, Artoo?"

With an almost panicked whistle, the astromech rushed to the edge of the water, his dome twirling frenetically as Luke followed closely behind him. With another flinch as overtaxed muscles protested, Aurora staggered to her feet and trailed after them. She arrived next to Luke just in time to see the dark water close over the majority of Luke's X-Wing. Only the tip of the ship's nose was still visible.

"Oops." She muttered.

Luke look appalled. "Oh no! We'll never get it out now."

Beside them, Yoda stamped his foot like an irritated toddler. "So certain are you. Always with you it cannot be done. Hear you nothing that I say?"

Luke and Aurora exchanged glances. Exhausted from her previous efforts and in no mood to argue with their stubborn teacher, she made an after-you gesture and turned to seat herself on a nearby log, clearing excusing herself from the coming discussion.

With an edge of exasperation riding his voice, Luke turned to the little Jedi Master. "Master, moving stones around is one thing. This is totally different."

"No!" Yoda stamped his stick into the ground. "No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned."

Luke took a deep breath. They had been training most of the day and he was already tired, but he knew better than to tell Yoda that. The Jedi Master accepted no excuses and any attempt to make him see reason just left you feeling like a lazy idiot. With a heartfelt sigh, Luke focused on the submerged ship. "All right. I'll give it a try."

But even this wasn't enough for Yoda. "No! Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try."

Luke sighed again, but made sure it was internal. Trying to ignore his sore muscles and the itchy combination of sweat and mud that covered him, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his ship. He pictured its familiar lines. The feel of the cool metal under his skin when he walked past and couldn't stop himself from brushing his fingers over it, like petting a beloved animal. The well-known scent that he associated with it, of metal and fuel and that combination of dust and ozone that he associated with space. He remembered the sound of the engines coming to life with a roar and the way he could feel that sound vibrate against his spine when he sat in the cockpit. And then he pictured all of that slowly rising from the cold, dark water that surrounded it. The bright metal of the hull slowly rising up. The way the water would almost peel back from the transparisteel cockpit in layers, bubbles frothing in the wake.

Luke had stretched out one hand towards the ship, as if reaching physically for it. Aurora choked back a gasp as the nose of the X-Wing slowly began to rise above the swamp water that engulfed it. For several breathless seconds, it continued to rise, hovering above the dank liquid. Then Luke let out a strangled breath and the ship sank back down with a despondent gurgle.

Panting, Luke sank to the ground, his head hanging in exhaustion.

"I can't." He gasped, black spots flashing in front of his eyes. "It's too big."

Concerned, Aurora rose off the log to kneel next to him, her hand on his shoulder.

"Breathe." She instructed firmly.

Yoda eyed them with disfavor. "Size matters not." He stated. "Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hm? Mmm."

Shakily, Luke shook his head.

"And well you should not. For my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we." He reached over and pinched Luke's shoulder. "Not this crude matter." Lifting one clawed hand in a sweeping, all-encompassing gesture, he indicated the swamp around them. "You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you…me…the tree…the rock…everywhere! Yes, even between this land and that ship!"

Aurora was staring at the Jedi Master in disbelief, her hand still on Luke's shoulder. She felt the muscles under her fingers tense as he pushed himself to his feet.

"You want the impossible." He told the diminutive creature miserably, before walking away.

Yoda took a deep breath and turned away. Facing the swamp and its captive starfighter, he closed his eyes and bowed his head. With one hand, he slowly pointed at the ship. The water bubbled and gurgled and the X-Wing rose steadily from its watery prison, water pouring from its silvery sides. Slowly and surely it cleared the water and glided silently to the shore, all at the silent command of that one beckoning hand. With a soft thump, the ship settled onto the muddy ground, water dripping off it. With a sigh, Yoda lowered his hand.

Aurora, still kneeling on the ground where Luke had left her, stared at him, speechless. The power it must have taken to lift the entire ship and the little being wasn't even breathing hard.

Luke was equally astonished, and he rushed towards his ship, touching it in awe as if to assure himself that it was real. Ducking under the nose, he came towards his teacher.

"I don't…I don't believe it!"

Yoda raised his head to stare him full in the face. "_That_ is why you fail."


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own it; it belongs to George Lucas, yada, yada, yada.

Aurora ducked out of the little hut and headed into the dark swamp. Without even thinking about it, she turned to the right and headed toward the clearing where Luke's X-Wing now rested. She knew she'd find him there. He'd been industriously cleaning the ship most of the evening; to the point that he'd even skipped the evening meal. Not that she blamed him. A powerful Jedi Master Yoda might be, but he was no cook.

But she knew that cleaning the debris left from the fighter's swamp water immersion wasn't Luke's primary purpose. He was avoiding Master Yoda because of his failure today with the ship. He was upset with himself; she'd seen it on his face when Master Yoda had turned away from him. So he was punishing himself by working relentlessly when she knew he was already exhausted. She gave an inward sigh. Luke was harder on himself than anyone she knew. He constantly drove himself to be the best; not out of any desire for acclaim or recognition, but simply because he needed to be. She had a feeling that he believed if he was the best pilot and Jedi in the galaxy, then he could save everyone he cared about. The way he hadn't been able to save his aunt and uncle.

Sure enough, as she came into the clearing she could see Luke kneeling on the wing strut swabbing intensely at the housing for the proton torpedoes, his face set in a ferocious scowl. However, since the rag he was using was black with mud and filth, he wasn't making much progress.

Aurora sighed, feeling her heart turn over a little in her chest. His disappointment in himself was palpable.

"Hey." She said as she approached the ship.

Luke looked up briefly. "Hey."

"It looks a lot better." She glanced at the ship, desperately searching for something to say. "Did it start up okay?"

"I haven't tried yet." Luke responded bleakly. "I thought I'd better get all the debris off it first, so that nothing gets caught in the engines." He continued to swipe half-heartedly at the muck.

"Oh." Aurora nodded. "Probably a good idea." She tugged on the end of her braid, uncertain how to deal with the awkwardness that had sprung up between them.

Suddenly, she heard Luke sigh above her and then a quiet, "Sorry."

She glanced up to see him looking down at her uncomfortably. "I guess I'm still in a bad mood because of earlier."

Aurora bit her lip. "I don't know if this will make you feel any better, but I don't really think Master Yoda intended you to succeed."

She shrugged when he raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"He looked really surprised when the X-wing started to come out of the water, and then more resigned than disappointed when you couldn't bring it all the way out. I think you had more strength than he realized, despite what he said."

Luke looked thoughtful for a moment, his hand idly squeezing the dirty rag. "So it was another test?"

Aurora snorted. "What isn't?"

"Good point." His mood considerably lightened, Luke continued to wipe at the ship, moving to reach the underside of the proton launcher. "If he didn't expect me to succeed, then he wanted to see how I'd deal with failure." Pondering this, he grinned ruefully. "Guess I didn't handle that very well either."

"Oh, Luke -."

He waved one hand at her. "No, it's okay. I'm not going to start brooding again. I can deal with this. I just have to realize that mistakes are okay; that's how we learn. I guess it was just the idea that I was so far from where Master Yoda expected me to be that set me off. I felt like a complete failure."

"Not to mention being completely exhausted and stressed." Aurora felt compelled to add, sitting down on a nearby rock.

Luke tossed her another grin. "Nah. After all this time with the Rebellion, I'm used to that."

"Hm." Aurora said, nodding her head in agreement. "Is it completely sad that I feel uncomfortable when I'm _not_ stressed out and tired?"

Luke, in the process of trying to reach under the launcher, burst out laughing. Unfortunately, his position was already precarious and his arms more tired than he had realized. He suddenly found himself lying flat on his back in the mud under the wing, desperately trying to draw air into his lungs.

"Luke!"

Aurora dropped to her knees in the mud next to him. "Don't move! Where does it hurt?"

Her hands were moving over him carefully, searching for broken bones.

Luke wheezed out a breath. "I'm fine." He tried to sit up, but her hands on his chest kept him from moving. "I just. Knocked. My breath out."

She gave him a considering look, but continued to search for injuries. Luke lay back patiently. As he got his breathing under control, he couldn't help but enjoy the feel of her hands moving over his body.

After a moment, Aurora sat back on heels. "I don't feel anything broken. I guess you're okay."

Discovering that the soft mud was actually rather comfortable under his exhausted body, Luke casually stacked his hands behind his head. "I told you, I'm fine. Everything works just perfectly."

Aurora gave him a dirty look. "Except for your head. What were you thinking?"

"I slipped." He smiled at her. "Besides, it was your fault. I wouldn't have fallen if you hadn't made me laugh."

"You wouldn't have fallen if you hadn't been working yourself way beyond exhaustion." She retorted, but without rancor. Her heart had finally slowed down from the frantic gallop it had experienced when he had first fallen. In the wake of the adrenalin surge, her body felt tired and a little shaky, and it was almost pleasant to sit here in the mud and the darkness. Idly, she glanced down at her companion, seeing him up close for the first time since she had entered the clearing.

"Wow, Skywalker. You are a mess." She decided after considering his disheveled appearance for a moment.

Luke scowled good-naturedly and swiped at his face, but since his hands were equally filthy, he only succeeded in leaving another streak of mud across his cheek and forehead.

"Oh, yeah. That helped." Aurora decided. She shook her head despairingly. "I think you're going to need a complete ground crew before you're clean again."

"Gee, Commander. Are you offering to give me a bath?" He asked cheekily.

She snorted. "In your dreams, Skywalker."

"Oh, yes." He breathed. "Definitely."

"Pervert."

Luke grinned at her. "If you think _that's_ perverse, you should hear about the one where-."

Aurora lifted one hand. "I really don't want to know about your prurient fantasies." She shifted so that she was sitting cross-legged next to him.

"Fine." Luke removed one hand from under his head and waved it airily in front of him. "We don't have to discuss my fantasies. We can talk about yours instead. Especially the ones that involve me."

She turned her head slightly to look at him, one eyebrow raised. "And what makes you think you feature anywhere in my fantasies?"

Lifting his head, he spread his arms wide; indicating his sweaty, mud and slime covered self. "Come on, Aurora. How could I not?"

She tried to hold back the laugh, but it burst out anyway. "Mmm. You're absolutely right. I can't imagine how I've managed to resist you for so long."

Luke nodded sagely. "You know, that's a question I ask myself nearly every day."

Still smiling, she regarded him carefully. "You know, I think you've now moved beyond exhaustion. You're so tired you're becoming punchy."

He laid his head back down and closed his eyes. "It's entirely possible." Now that he was finally prone, his body was making him aware of exactly how tired he was. His head was swimming slightly and a strange sort of giddiness seemed to have set in. "I think I'll just stay here tonight."

"Here?' She looked around at the dark swamp. "In the mud?"

He didn't bother to open his eyes when he replied. "Why not? As you so nicely pointed out, I'm already a mess; I'm tired, and I really don't feel like walking back to Yoda's hut."

"What if it rains?"

"Then I'll get wet." A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "At least I'll be clean."

He heard Aurora's soft snort of reluctant amusement as she stood up. "Come on. I'll give you a hand up and make sure you don't fall into the swamp."

He opened one eye. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'm staying here tonight. I can't spend one more night curled into a ball in Yoda's hut."

"You're not serious!" She was looking down at him with disbelief. "What if some predator comes along?"

"Have you seen any since we've been here? Other than Artoo's swamp monster, of course, and that was in the water." He closed his eye again.

"Just because we haven't seen them doesn't mean they're not here." She was still standing above him stiffly, staring down at him. As she heard the words leave her mouth, she berated herself internally. She sounded all prim and proper. Dammit, she sounded like _Leia_!

"Then maybe you should stay and protect me." There was a stunned silence above him. Luke held his breath in anticipation, waiting to see how she'd react. He'd manage to make the question sound casual, disguising the honest desire behind it. But everything in him was tensed in expectation, waiting to hear what she'd say. Hope started to rise when she didn't issue an immediate denial. Was she actually considering sleeping here with him? He cursed his muddy, exhausted state. Finally he heard her draw a deep breath.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not? Don't you trust me?" His mouth curled in that slightly naughty smile he was capable of occasionally. "I promise your virtue is completely safe. I'm way too tired to try anything." The yawn that followed was only half-faked. Keeping his eyes still mostly closed, Luke watched her through his lashes. Her face was a study in indecision. He felt a surge of triumph. She was actually considering it! He wasn't even certain why he was pushing so hard for this right now, because truthfully, he _was_ exhausted. Not to mention dirty and probably smelly, and nothing could be further from the idea of romance he had in his head then a night spent in the mud. He wasn't even planning on anything happening tonight. But still…To have her willingly spend the night with him. To lie all night next to her, feeling her warmth next to his body, and inhaling that wonderful scent that was her's alone. To get her to finally admit, even intangibly that there was something more between them than just friendship.

Aurora bit her lip in indecision. Spend the night here, with him? Really not a good idea. She trusted Luke, she really did. But after her abrupt realizations by the water, she didn't entirely trust herself. Because truthfully, he looked far too appealing right now; even covered in mud. Still, she let her mind dwell for the moment on the idea of sleeping next to him all night, however innocently. This could be her only chance to ever spend the night with him. He wasn't proposing a night of wild sex or even any cuddling. Just sleep. The idea was wonderfully appealing. It had been a very long time since she had experienced the comfort of another's presence and warmth next to her while she slept. There was something extremely alluring about the concept, especially if it was Luke.

Luke's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Of course, you're probably right. It's not really a good idea. I doubt Leia would consider this proper behavior."

Her gaze snapped down to his abruptly. His eyes were open now and she could see them glinting in the light from the moon that was actually visible for once. Her mouth opened in an immediate denial that the idea of propriety had even entered her mind, before she realized that the gleam she could see in those blue eyes was amusement.

"Oh, that was low, Skywalker."

The smile he'd been trying to suppress suddenly escaped. "But so effective."

She growled something under her breath and stomped off. Luke felt a tinge of worry enter his mind. Had that last one been too obviously manipulative? But before he could begin to feel too disappointed, she was back, carrying something in her arms. Irritation marking her movements, with a few quick snaps of her arms, she had a thermal blanket laid out on the ground and was tossing another one down on top of it. She'd obviously cadged them from the storage compartment of his X-wing. Luke watched silently as she sat down and tugged her boots off and then her jacket; bundling the latter up ruthlessly to use as a pillow.

Catching his eye, she shrugged indifferently. "I refuse to sleep in the mud."

"Of course." Luke continued to watch as she slipped between the two blankets. He cleared his throat self-consciously. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to share?"

Her head resting comfortably on the makeshift pillow, she raised one eyebrow. "You were the one who wanted to sleep in the mud, remember?"

"Those are the blankets from _my_ X-wing, remember?"

"True." She appeared to be considering the point, then with a heavy, put-upon sigh, she tossed back one corner of the blanket. "Get in."

Luke wasted no time in pulling off his boots and his own jacket, before sliding in next to her. The blanket was rather small, so he was forced to lie somewhat close to her. For warmth, he assured himself. Still, the feel of her body stretched along the length of his felt glorious.

She was lying on her side, facing away from him, so he couldn't see her face, but he could tell by the tenseness of her body that she wasn't asleep yet.

After a moment she spoke again. "This could be a problem, you know."

Luke felt his stomach clench, but he kept his voice casual. "How so?"

"Well, after this, we can no longer honestly deny all those rumors about us sleeping together."

"I don't think this is quite what they meant." He said wryly.

"Still."

There was another moment of silence and his eyes were starting to drift shut, when her voice came out of the dark again. "Aren't there regulations about sleeping with your commanding officer?"

"I'll override them for you."

"I don't think that's possible considering you're the commanding officer in question."

"I'll think of something."

She could hear the drowsiness in his voice, and after a few minutes, his breathing evened out into sleep.

Aurora felt herself relaxing. The heat from his body was welcome as the air temperature was getting noticeably cooler. His slow, even breaths gently stirred the hair at the nape of her neck. Almost against her will, her eyes began to close. Her last thought before sleep overtook her was that sleeping next to Luke somehow felt _right_.

It was sometime later that a slightly irritated Jedi Master hobbled into the clearing in search of his errant students. Catching sight of the pair sleeping on the ground, he paused for a moment, considering this turn of events. Luke had curled closer to Aurora in his sleep, his arm curving around her waist and both were sleeping peacefully, the lines of exhaustion and strain smoothed away.

"Hmm. Not good this. Not good." Yoda whispered to himself. But after a long, thoughtful silence, he turned and walked away, leaving his two students undisturbed.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own it; it belongs to George Lucas, yada, yada, yada.

Once again Yoda had him upside down, his hands planted firmly in the Dagobah muck, but this time, it was easier. He wasn't straining, barely had to use his body to balance. All around him, he felt the warmth of the Force enfolding him. Various packing crates rose up into the air, followed shortly by Artoo, who began to whistle and squeal in fear.

Across the clearing from him Aurora mirrored his pose, her face calm and composed.

Yoda sounded pleased. "Concentrate…feel the Force flow. Yes. Good. Calm, yes. Through the Force, things you will see. Other places. The future…the past. Old friends long gone."

Suddenly Luke's face contorted as terrible images began to flow through his mind accompanied by searing pain and fear.

"Han! Leia!"

Distantly he heard Aurora suck in her breath on a harsh gasp and then he was losing control of his grasp on the Force. The packing crates crashed down into the mud, followed by a squealing Artoo and then his own balance teetered and he landed hard on his side in the mud.

Yoda shook his head in disappointment. "Hmm. Control, control. You must learn control."

Luke pulled himself into a sitting position. "I saw…I saw a city in the clouds."

"Mmm. Friends you have there." Yoda nodded.

"They were in pain."

"It is the future you see." Yoda replied.

"Future?" Aurora questioned. From the way she was rubbing her shoulder, Luke guessed that she too had lost control of the Force when he yelled. "Will they die?"

Yoda's eyes closed and he lowered his head as he concentrated. "Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."

"We've got to go to them." Luke stated, sharing a frightened glance with Aurora.

"Decide you must how to serve them best. If you leave now, help them you could. But you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered."

Aurora looked appalled. "You mean just abandon them there?"

Yoda turned to face her fully. "Know what their purpose is there, do you? Know for why they have gone?"

"No." She muttered.

"Then know you not what action to take. Always moving is the future. If go you do, set in motion these events you might."

"Or we might save them." Luke said defiantly. His face reflected the extreme distaste he felt at the idea of leaving his friends in danger.

"Hmm." Yoda nodded. "Possibly. Risk yourselves, would you?"

"Yes!" He shot back.

"And them?"

The little alien held Luke's eyes for a moment, before the student turned away from his master's gaze, unable to answer. Silence held in the clearing for several long minutes. Abruptly, Luke slammed his hand against the damp ground in frustration and then rose and left, almost running.

Aurora rose wordlessly and began to pick up the various crates, studiously avoiding looking at Yoda while she worked, righting the boxes and then turning to wipe away the mud Artoo had accumulated when he had tumbled unceremoniously to the muddy ground. She kept her eyes on her task, focusing on each streak and smear as if her life depended on making sure the little droid was spotless, all the while avoiding even his mechanical gaze. It was better to focus on minutiae like this than to have to think about what Yoda was asking them to do. Because somehow she knew he was right about this and that they should stay right where they were and leave Han, Leia, Chewie and Threepio to get out of whatever fix they had gotten themselves into. But the very idea went against everything that she believed in and even considering the possibility of leaving them made her cringe inside. So, better to get the mud off Artoo and not think about it.

Of course, when had ignoring something bad ever made it better? It was with a sense of inevitableness that she heard Yoda sigh behind her. "Agree with him you do."

Aurora stilled, her eyes on the plating of the droid in front of her. She didn't want to have to think about this. Because of course she agreed with Luke. Completely. What humane being wouldn't? To abandon her friends to an unknown but probably dangerous future was unthinkable; especially when there was the possibility that they could prevent it. But somehow, she knew it wasn't going to be that simple. Nothing ever was anymore. Not when she could feel the Force stirring around her.

When she didn't answer him, Yoda continued. "Think you that cold and heartless am I. Unfeeling and uncaring."

"Yes." She answered him, but she wasn't certain who she was speaking of. Her master or herself? She kept her back to him, afraid he would see more than she wanted him to. Stupid really. When had Yoda ever needed to see her face to know her mind?

"An unenviable position a Jedi has. To see both sides at once."

She spun around. "To see both sides, but not to know which one is right? What good is that!"

"Tell you, the Force will, which is right. Listen you need to."

Frustrated, she turned away again. Easy to say, but not as easy to do. Not when she couldn't shut her own conscience up long enough to listen to anything else. Listen to the Force…abandon her friends…

"Unlearn what you have learned." Yoda whispered.

Aurora turned on him, fury burning through her. "I don't want stupid Jedi platitudes!"

"Guarantees you want." Yoda said calmly, still standing in the same spot, his hands crossed casually over the top of his gimmer stick, unfazed by her anger.

"Yes, dammit!"

"Have one for you, I do. If go you do, in grave danger he will be."

Aurora stared at him, cold shock replacing the blazing anger that had been coursing through her. "What? Luke?" She asked him numbly, all thought processes seeming to have shuddered to a halt.

"Seen it I have. Danger waits for him in that place. Terrible danger."

Aurora shook her head. She couldn't seem to get her brain to start working. The dim images that she had seen during Luke's vision kept playing through her mind, but now they were intermingled with images of Luke: Luke's fear and terror, Luke screaming in pain and anger. Aurora dropped to her knees, pressing both hands against the side of her head to stop the images, her fingers digging into her temples as if she could physically reach in and tear away the mental pictures. After a moment, the visions stopped and she gained back some control. Gasping, she let her hands fall and sat back on her heels. Her head was pounding and she swore she could feel each individual beat of her heart in the pulse at her temples. She didn't know if what she had seen had been the Force or own overly vivid imagination.

Scared and uncertain, she turned to her teacher, but something in his face made her stop. For a moment, there had been something there that almost looked…pleased. Aurora narrowed her eyes. Now that the horrific onslaught of images had ceased, she was regaining the ability to think again, and one thought came through loud and clear as she stared at the old Jedi master. _How convenient…._

"You saw Luke in danger?" She asked now, her voice emotionless.

"Yes."

"You're positive that if he goes to this city in the clouds that he'll be in danger?"

"Yes." Yoda repeated.

Aurora's hands clenched in her lap. "What happened to 'Difficult to see' and 'always in motion is the future'?"

Yoda scowled at her. "Smart ass students a trial to their instructors are." He muttered, digging his gimmer stick into the mud. With a loud, put-upon sigh he responded to her question. "See some things, I do, more clearly. Accept you will, more power have I than you?"

She shrugged, but she felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. Yoda was considerably more powerful than she or Luke. So it was very likely that he did see things far more clearly. It was also entirely conceivable that the pleasure she thought she had seen on his face after those visions (if it even was pleasure; Yoda's expressions were sometimes hard to read) was a result of her having mastered those chaotic visions or even for having had them in the first place. It didn't necessarily mean that she was being manipulated into doing what he wanted. She just wished she could shut up the cynical side of her mind that kept telling her that was exactly what was happening.

Realizing that Yoda was talking again, she turned back to him.

"Agree with me on this, the boy does not. Caught in his emotions he is. Seeing clearly he is not." The old Jedi master sighed. "Need you to talk to him I do."

"What?" Aurora blurted, startled. "Why me?"

Yoda looked irritated. "Listens to you he does." When she failed to respond, he scowled and stamped his walking stick against the ground. "Think you noticed I have not?"

Inexplicably, Aurora felt herself blushing. She wasn't even sure why. Yoda wasn't accusing them of having done anything, but for some reason, she had a feeling he knew about that night spent sleeping under the same blanket.

"Go to him. Stay here he must. Convince him of this you will." Yoda stated, ignoring the confusion he had caused.

Aurora rose to her feet at her master's gesture, feeling as if she had been running for miles. Her head still ached and her muscles were sore. "Fine. But I don't know how I'm going to convince _him_ that staying here is the best option when I can't even convince myself of it." She muttered.

"Convince him you will." Yoda repeated. "Risk him you will not."

She was almost out of the clearing when the little Jedi's next words stopped her cold.

"Choose between him and them you must."

Aurora stared at him in horror. "I can't do that!"

"You must." Yoda's face was implacable. "You will."

For a moment, the two continued to stare at each other across the width of the clearing, before Aurora tore her gaze away and hurried into the safety of the trees, a shiver making its way down her spine. _Him or them…._

_Page Break (I'm simply typing this in since this damn site seems to remove any page breaks that I attempt to put in.)_

Aurora found Luke some time later in her favorite spot at the water's edge. He was pacing back and forth, occasionally stopping to pick up a branch or rock and hurl it into the murky water. The air around him was almost foaming with his frustration. Sensing her presence at the edge of the trees, he spoke without turning. "We need to start packing up."

Aurora frowned at his back, Yoda's words still running through her head. _Terrible danger…stay he must…choose, him or them…._

Despising herself, she tried to avoid the issue. "Luke, we don't even know where they are."

He turned around to face her. "I saw a city in the clouds…" His voice trailed off.

"Which could be anywhere in the galaxy." She finished for him. Seeing his face fall, she stepped towards him. "Maybe we can get Artoo to search for any planets that have cities like the one you saw. We might be able to narrow it down a little."

"Yes! He can use my X-wing's computer. Then, I can check them out and see if any of them resemble what I saw." Frowning slightly, he slowly sat down on a fallen log near the edge of the water. "That could take a while though. What if we're too late?"

There it was. No way to avoid the issue now. Steeling herself, Aurora sat next to him and put her hand gently on his shoulder. "Luke, have you considered that maybe Master Yoda is right?"

He turned so sharply to look at her that her hand fell away. "You want to leave them there?"

"No! It's just that –," She picked at a stray thread on the knee of her pants as she tried to think of what to say. Any suggestion that it was too dangerous would only make Luke scoff. He would never hesitate to risk his own life to save his friends. Neither would she, for that matter. But to risk Luke's life on such a nebulous thing….Because something was telling her that Yoda's words hadn't been an attempt to manipulate her, or at least, not _just_ an attempt to manipulate her into doing what he wanted. Frustrated, she shook her head, still staring at her lap. "Nevermind. I don't even know what I'm trying to say."

Luke's hand suddenly came into view, covering hers and stopping her compulsive fidgeting. The action brought her eyes up to his.

"Aurora, I can't leave them there if they're suffering. Can you?"

Staring into those startling blue eyes Aurora was very afraid that the answer was yes, if it meant keeping him alive. And she was even more afraid of what that meant.

_Page Break…_

Over the next few days, Luke seemed, on the surface at least, to have accepted the need to wait until Artoo could find any planets that had cities located in the clouds. In the few breaks in training allowed them, he had already viewed several of the images that the little droid had presented to him. But none of them had matched the vision he had had, and he'd sent Artoo back to his search. From time to time, Aurora saw him standing motionless, staring up into the canopy overhead, and she knew he wasn't seeing the trees, but an image of glowing pink clouds gathered around the dark gleam of a city. At night, several times she had heard his breathing quicken as if in a dream, and once he had cried out, his hand reaching out for something in front of him, before he had suddenly awoken. Each time, she had quickly closed her eyes, pretending to sleep to avoid meeting his gaze; sickened inside by her own actions. She couldn't even offer him comfort because of her own cowardice. Each day found her avoiding his company as much as she could in an attempt to put off the moment when she must finally answer the question he had asked days ago, because she still didn't know the answer.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own it; it belongs to George Lucas, yada, yada, yada.

That night, when Luke suddenly sat up and cried out, Aurora had had enough of indecision and soul searching and was there with him, kneeling in the dirt next to his thermal bag. She grabbed his arms, shaking him gently and forcing him to look at her. "Luke, stop! Wake up. It's a dream, just a dream." Slowly, his eyes seemed to focus on her, and she felt the tension seep out of his shoulders, leaving him slumped in her hands.

"Sorry." He mumbled, rubbing one hand across his eyes. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Don't be stupid." The words were harsh, but her tone was gentle, as were the hands still holding his arms. "Was it the vision again?"

Luke nodded. His breathing starting to slow again and the vision fading, he sat up straighter. "I'm sorry. I can't seem to stop it. I just keep seeing them there…and they're terrified and in so much pain! I just can't control the vision."

Aurora continued to kneel there, her hands still gripping his upper arms, staring into his face. Although she was looking at him, Luke had a feeling that she was seeing something else entirely. After a moment, he saw her bite her lip indecisively for a moment and then sigh, her shoulders slumping, almost in defeat.

"Alright, that's it." She let go of his arms and stood up. "Come on."

"Come on where?" Luke asked, rising to his feet, confused.

"It's obvious that vision isn't going to leave you alone until you resolve it, so let's go grab Artoo and figure out exactly where this city in the clouds is."

Luke gaped at her and then at the dark swamp around them. "Now?"

She tossed him a withering glance over her shoulder. "Did you have other plans?"

He shut his mouth and followed her to his X-wing.

Artoo was already snugged into his socket, recharging, so it was a simple matter of waking him up and having him bring up the files he had already accessed.

Aurora and Luke settled on the wing of the fighter to view the images that the little droid projected for them. It was slow and tedious work, since they frequently had to flip through several images of each city to make sure Luke hadn't just seen one section in his vision. Luke had never really appreciated how large the galaxy actually was until he found himself viewing image after image of various high altitude cities ranging from the Core Worlds all the way to planets hovering on the edge of the Unknown Territories; all of them suspended somehow in the sky.

Sometimes they were striking, such as one located on the planet of Listern which seemed to be made entirely of a nearly translucent crystal and built on a thin spire of rock holding it high above the rest of the continent. The images showed the planet's sun rising over the horizon and setting rainbows dancing through all of the crystal buildings. Others were incredibly ugly. Luke nearly laughed himself sick at one city that seemed to be constructed of some sort of squashy orange dough-like material, leaving all the buildings to resemble particularly unappetizing pastries.

After nearly an hour though, Luke was getting frustrated and had lost any sense of humor. They took a break for a moment, to rest their eyes. Aurora leaned back against the cockpit of the ship and rubbed her face wearily. "There's so many, this could take all night. Are you sure you didn't notice any other details?"

Luke frowned, thinking hard about the vision he'd had. "I think…it was floating." At Aurora's rolled eyes, he hastily continued. "I mean, I don't think it was sitting on a mountaintop or built in trees like Kashyyyk or anything like that."

His companion sat up, some energy returning. "Like maybe it's using an anti-gravity pod or something similar?" She turned to the droid behind them. "Artoo, can you add that condition to the criteria you have and re-sort it? Remove any planets we've already viewed."

There was a happy chirp of acknowledgement as the droid complied.

"That should take him a few minutes." Aurora replied, settling back against the cockpit again and closing her eyes.

Luke watched her for a moment. He wanted to ask her something, but wasn't sure how to do it or how the question would be received. He also wasn't entirely certain he even wanted to know the answer, but contemplating that lovely, familiar face, he suddenly decided that he had to.

"Aurora?"

"Hmmm?" Her voice sounded like she was on the edge of sleep.

"Why are you helping me with this?"

She smirked and raised one eyebrow, but never opened her eyes. "You'd prefer to do this alone? 'Cause I can go back to bed, no problem."

"No. That's not what I meant. I mean, why are you helping me now? You've been avoiding the whole issue for days and now suddenly you're in a rush to find the city. What happened to change your mind?"

Aurora sighed, and slowly opened her eyes. For a moment, she didn't look at him, but kept her eyes focused on the trees above them. When she did speak, Luke found himself watching her face for clues to what she was thinking, because her voice was devoid of emotion.

"You're right. I _have_ been avoiding this – in fact, I've been avoiding _you_ because I didn't want to discuss this."

He wanted to ask why, but he held his tongue, waiting for her to continue. When she did it was abrupt.

"Yoda told me if you go, you'll be in severe danger. He's foreseen it."

Luke thought about that for a moment, trying to decide how he felt about it. He couldn't really come to any conclusion. "Do you believe him?"

Now she did look at him, her eyes dark. "Yes."

A thousand questions flooded his mind, and yes, a shiver of fear worked its way down his spine, but Luke ignored it. "And Leia and Han?"

"He told me to choose between them or you."

This time the silence was particularly heavy. Luke wasn't quite sure what to think. Part of him was appalled that the old Jedi master would even consider asking someone to make a choice like that; to have to choose between your friends' lives was unthinkable. But a small part of him, one that he told himself he should squash immediately, couldn't help but thrill at the knowledge that Aurora held his life in such high regard that she'd actually consider abandoning three other beings, four if you counted Threepio. That must mean something, right? And how pathetic was he that he could even think of that right now? Still, he couldn't prevent the warm rush of feeling that filled his chest.

Trying to ignore it, he cleared his throat, forcing his voice to sound casual. "So, have you chosen?"

"No." Aurora brushed her hand against the smooth surface of the fighter, tracing patterns in the pollen that covered the ship as she watched his face. "I tried to. I spent days agonizing over it. Him or them, him or them. How could I make that choice? I certainly don't want to see Leia and Han die, but the idea of losing you…" She trailed off and quickly looked away, a slight blush heating her cheeks. Luke felt that warm rush again, but did his best to ignore it when Aurora started speaking again.

"Finally I realized something: it wasn't my choice to make. It's yours. And if I did what Master Yoda wanted and tried to convince you to stay, than I would be no better than the Empire trying to take away your right to make your own choices. All I can do is give you all the information that I have and support whatever decision _you_ make." She looked back up at him again and tried a small smile. "And worry. I can do that too. Really well."

Luke smiled back at her, but like hers, he was afraid it wobbled at the edges. His voice was rough with emotion when he spoke. "That means a great deal to me, Aurora. More than you can know. Especially when I think you know what decision I mean to make."

"You're going after them. I know."

"Yes." He reached down slowly and touched the back of her hand with one finger. "Are you coming with me?"

The look she gave him was almost blazing with intensity. "Do you honestly think I'd let you go alone? Knowing that you're going to be in danger?" She gave a half laugh. "I mean more so than usual?"

It was at that moment, when she was doing her best to keep the situation light in an obvious effort to make him feel better; when she had just basically told him that she was willing to trust his judgment over her own, that Luke felt himself tip over a precipice he wasn't even aware he'd been balancing on, and fall. Hard.

Without a conscious decision, he was suddenly leaning forward, cupping her chin in his hand and tilting her face up to his. Aurora's eyes widened in sudden awareness and she tried to turn her head away, but his grip on her face wouldn't allow it.

"Luke, not a good-."

"Idea." He finished for her. "Too late." The last words were whispered against her lips and then he was kissing her and any thought she might have had of stopping him had been whisked right out of her head.

Later, when she replayed the incident in her head (which she would do – repeatedly) she could remember individual thoughts and feelings, but at the time, she was only really conscious of sensations: the feel of his mouth on hers, the movement of his hands against her skin, the softness of his hair under her fingers when she slid her hands into it.

There was no telling how far the situation would have gone; Aurora had no conception of how much time had passed, being completely lost in deep, drugging kisses and increasingly heated caresses, but when Artoo abruptly interrupted them some time later, they had somehow managed to slide into a horizontal position and various articles of clothing were decidedly awry.

The little droid's excited whistling had unexpectedly penetrated the sexual haze enveloping them, and Aurora found herself blinking dazedly up at Luke's flushed face and dark eyes; both of their breath coming fast and heavy.

"Um, I think he's done with the search." She managed.

"Yeah." Luke responded, but by the way his eyes were still fastened on her mouth, she had a feeling he hadn't really heard her.

"Luke?" She wiggled out from under him, ignoring the clamoring of her body that told her to stay exactly where she was and finish what they had started. "Artoo's done with the re-sort. We need to get back to the search."

She watched his eyes slowly come back into focus. "Right. The search." With a shake of his head, he sat up and turned towards the astromech, feeling mildly resentful that Aurora was apparently still capable of higher brain functions, because he certainly wasn't. That might have had something to do with the fact that most of the blood supply to his brain was currently…elsewhere. "Uh, go ahead and display, Artoo." Having made what he felt was a monumental effort at coherence, he then simply collapsed back against the wing, still breathing heavily and struggling for some form of control. The problem was, the source of his distraction was still sitting next to him, and he could still smell her skin and the taste of her was still lingering on his lips. He groaned and covered his face with both hands. _Control, dammit. For Force sakes, Skywalker! Have some pride._

Aurora turned away for a moment. She couldn't help feeling a trifle smug that the little interlude had so obviously disconcerted him. Unfortunately, that feeling deflated somewhat when she realized how badly her own hands were shaking when she tried to refasten her shirt. Luke hadn't been the only one overwhelmed.

She wondered exactly how they were going to handle this change in their relationship. Was it going to be awkward from now on? Lots of weird glances and uncomfortable silences? Of course, from the way she was feeling right now, she didn't know if she'd be able to even talk to Luke without throwing herself on him. Her lips twisted with sardonic humor for a moment. Wouldn't that liven up squadron briefings?

And did one brief (alright, maybe not so brief) moment of passionate kissing and groping mean she had the right to throw herself on him from now on? How exactly did they define their relationship now? She had a horrified vision of herself staring enraptured at Luke during a briefing while the rest of the squadron snickered, and shuddered in reaction.

Too many questions, which was exactly why she had tried to avoid this exact situation previously. Of course, now that she had actually experienced what it meant to kiss Luke Skywalker, she wouldn't have given it up for anything in the galaxy, not even this agonizing moment of indecision and vague, undefined embarrassment.

Subjecting herself to a stern inner monologue that contained references to pride, cold showers, dignity and other nebulous concepts such as these, Aurora forced herself to turn back towards Luke and focus on the images that Artoo was displaying. If, in the process, she managed to avoid his eyes, no one else had to know it. But she couldn't help noticing that he was avoiding her eyes too.

There was no telling how long their mutual avoidance might have continued if Luke hadn't noticed that the images he was staring so intently at without really seeing, suddenly looked very familiar.

"Wait a minute, Artoo!" He exclaimed, sitting up abruptly. "Go back to that last one."

Aurora, carefully sitting a good foot away from, straightened. "What is it?"

"That one," He said, staring at the image carefully. "That's it! That's what I saw in the vision!"

Aurora leaned forward, reading the display information. "Cloud City, Bespin. That's in the Anoat System." She frowned. "What the hell are they doing there? That's a long way from the rendezvous point."

"It's Han and Leia. Do you really need to ask how they end up anywhere?"

"Good point." She conceded, smiling slightly at his dry tone, but she was still studying the small map embedded in the display. "This isn't too far from here. I think we can get there with only one stop for refueling, but we'd better leave today, because it's still going to take a while."

Luke was watching her profile. "And what about Master Yoda?"

She met his eyes. "I made my choice."

He watched her jump lightly off the edge of the wing and walk away, disappearing into the dark shadows under the trees. She'd made her choice, but did that refer to going after Han and Leia or to what had just happened between them?


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own it; it belongs to George Lucas, yada, yada, yada.

Needless to say, Master Yoda was less than pleased to hear of their decision to leave. The look he gave Aurora was particularly eloquent, and she had to force herself not to squirm under it. The decision was made and only time would tell whether it was a mistake or not. And she really, really wished she'd quit having these premonitory shivers every time she thought something like that.

Turning away from her in evident disgust, the Jedi Master tried once again to convince his stubborn student to change his mind.

"Luke! You must complete the training."

But Luke only shook his head, his mind already made up. "I can't keep the vision out of my head. They're my friends. I've got to help them."

"You must not go!" Yoda sounded almost desperate, which really wasn't helping Aurora's nerves.

Luke, always the nicer of the two of them, was still trying to soften the blow by making Master Yoda understand their motivations. "But Han and Leia will die if we don't."

"You don't know that." A new voice suddenly replied.

Aurora stiffened as she and Luke both turned and looked across the clearing to see her father standing there. He was slightly blue and shimmering, but he was also undeniably there.

Luke blinked and cast a swift glance at Aurora. He couldn't stop the blush that spread across his face. Here he was standing across from a man who he had watched be cut in two with a lightsaber and all he could think of was that Ben knew exactly what had happened between Luke and his daughter last night on the wing of the fighter under which he was currently standing. Which was rather stupid, when he thought about it; Ben obviously had bigger concerns on his mind right now. And yet, he couldn't stop himself from taking a step away from Aurora. Just in case.

Ben, meanwhile, had continued with the issue at hand. "Even Yoda cannot see their fate."

Aurora, oblivious to Luke's discomfort and the reason behind it, took a step toward her father. "But there's a possibility they may. That's what Luke saw in that vision."

"A possibility is not a certainty."

"But it's enough reason to go and help them."

Ben shook his head. "The risk is too great."

"But we can help them!" Luke asserted, jumping back into the conversation. "We can feel the Force!"

"But you cannot control it." Ben replied. "This is a dangerous time for you, when you will be tempted by the dark side of the Force."

"Yes, yes. To Obi Wan you listen." Yoda added. "The cave. Remember your failure at the cave!"

Aurora shuddered in remembrance, but Luke plunged ahead. "But we've both learned so much since then." He turned to the older Jedi Master. "Master Yoda, we promise to return and finish what we've begun."

Shaking off the bad memories, Aurora stepped closer to Luke, unconsciously making them into one unit, as Luke had done with his words. "You have our word."

Obi Wan eyed the two of them with trepidation. _So much like Anakin…_ With that thought guiding him, he tried again to change their minds.

"It is you and your abilities the Emperor wants. That is why your friends are made to suffer."

"And that is why we have to go." Luke replied his voice apologetic but firm.

"Luke, I don't want to lose you to the Emperor the way I lost Vader." Obi Wan nearly pleaded.

The young man met his eyes, determination shining in his own. "You won't." Next to him, the same determination marked Aurora's face, more so perhaps in that she was obviously also determined to protect Luke from whatever fate it was that Yoda had foreseen. Obi Wan felt his heart ache at the sight.

Into the suddenly emotional atmosphere, Yoda's voice came with a shocking briskness. "Stopped they must be. On this all depends. Only a fully trained Jedi Knight with the Force as his ally will conquer Vader and his Emperor. If you end your training now, if you choose the quick and easy path, as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil."

"Patience." Obi Wan counseled.

Aurora had had enough. This was nothing more than emotional blackmail. Luke was already swamping himself in guilt; neither of them needed any more added to the load they were already carrying.

"And sacrifice Han and Leia?" She demanded into the silence that followed.

"If you honor what they fight for…yes!" Yoda shot back.

Luke glanced back and forth between his teachers, guilt and indecision written on his face. Aurora took a step closer to him until their shoulders brushed, giving him her moral support. She'd already told him it was his vision and therefore his decision. She'd do whatever he thought was appropriate. Not because he was her commanding officer, but because at this point, he was operating with more information that she was. She'd caught only the edges of that vision, as if it had been filtered through him.

As if fortified by the contact, Luke took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders.

Seeing the decision in his face, Obi Wan sighed. "If you choose to face Vader, you will do it alone. I cannot interfere."

"I understand." Luke said. He turned to the small astromech. "Artoo, fire up the converters."

"Not alone." Aurora told her father quietly, the words almost lost under Artoo's happy reply. "Never alone."

Obi Wan nodded. "I understand." He repeated Luke's words, both of them realizing he meant far more than just Aurora's decision to accompany Luke on the rescue mission. Aurora turned and climbed into the cockpit of her ship that she had moved to the clearing early that morning.

"Luke, don't give in to hate – that leads to the dark side."

Nodding, Luke too climbed into the pilot's seat.

Standing on a log in the clearing, Master Yoda suddenly looked strangely diminished. "Strong is Vader. Mind what you have learned. Save you it can."

Aurora paused in putting on her helmet. "I'll remember." She had the sudden feeling that Yoda knew far more than what he was telling, and whatever he knew, it wasn't good.

"We'll return." Luke was saying. "I promise."

The cockpit closed on his words, and with a roar of its engines, the X-Wing leapt for space. Aurora hesitated a moment. "I'll watch out for him. I promise, Master." Then she too closed her cockpit and was gone in a swirl of morning fog.

Yoda sighed. "And who will watch you, hmm?" He shook his head, tired. "Told you, I did. Reckless are they. Now matters are worse."

"Those two are our last hopes." Obi Wan replied.

Looking up where the two ships had gone, Yoda waited a second. "No. There is another."

*

Flying through swirls of clouds tinted gold by the distant sun, Aurora frowned at her display panel.

"Where are all the guards? We should have been challenged by now."

"Where's all the traffic, for that matter." Luke's voice came back through her com. "I haven't seen any ships at all."

"No sign of debris anywhere though, so I don't think there's been any kind of battle."

"No sign of debris? Maybe Han and Leia aren't here." Luke said dryly.

"Something's wrong." She stated, unease curling in her stomach.

"Then I guess that means we _are_ in the right place." Luke replied cheerily.

"I thought we already knew that." Aurora answered.

"Well," his voice came back, dragging the word out. "I was almost positive."

"_Almost_ positive? Need I remind you that we've been flying for two days, have alienated a very old Jedi Master, not to mention my father, who, by the way dragged, himself back from the _dead_ in order to prevent us from coming here, and all this time you were only _almost_ positive?"

Luke winced as her voice increased in volume. "Hey, what can I say? It was a pretty short vision. And let's not forget, I was somewhat distracted when Artoo showed me that image."

There was a long moment of silence from the com in which he could almost _hear _her blushing.

"…not my fault." She finally mumbled.

"Excuse me? It most certainly was your fault I was distracted." Luke replied. "It certainly wasn't Artoo that got me into that state."

"Hey! Let's not forget: _you_ kissed _me_!"

"Yes. Yes, I did." He answered, satisfaction practically dripping from his words. He grinned to himself at the audible growl that came from the com. Pissing her off might not have been the best way to get her to talk, but it had worked. She'd been avoiding any mention of that night with studied focus, constantly changing the subject or pretending to sleep when he came anywhere close to mentioning it. Of course, having a serious discussion over a comlink about the state of their relationship probably wasn't the greatest idea, but what else could he do? They were stuck in hyperspace in two different ships and didn't exactly have time to stop off somewhere where they could have a face-to-face discussion. Sometimes, saving the galaxy really interfered with his love life.

"Are we finally going to talk about this?"

"_Now_?" Her voice sounded strangled.

"You have other plans?"

"Actually, yes. Like, oh, I don't know, saving Han, Leia and Chewie?"

"We can do both." He assured her.

However, he hadn't counted on Aurora being just as stubborn as he was, and when she didn't want to talk about something, nothing in the galaxy could make her.

"Oh, look!" She said with false disappointment. "A landing pad. Too bad. I guess we'll just have to postpone that little chat for another time. Back to work."

Her ship shot out ahead of his and Luke cursed under his breath at the bad timing.

*

With no one to interfere, it was only a matter of minutes to land the two X-Wings close to each other. Luke gazed across the otherwise empty landing pad as the cockpit canopy rose around him. It was eerily quiet, with no other sounds but the wind blowing across the dark grey metal and the hisses and creaks of the two ships shutting down.

When Aurora's voice came, it almost startled him.

"Creepy."

He couldn't help but agree. It reminded him of holos he'd seen of abandoned settlements and towns on rim planets. But unlike those, which were mostly in ruins, this city still had lights and atmosphere. It simply looked as if its inhabitants had just stepped away a moment ago. A shiver worked its way down his spine.

"You coming?" Aurora called, breaking his reverie.

Seeing she had already doffed her helmet and flightsuit and was climbing down the ladder, Luke followed suit. A moment's concentration saw Artoo lifted carefully out of his socket and set down next to them. Seeing Aurora's raised brows, he shrugged. "I figure he can access the city's computer if we need to."

She nodded. "Alright. Come on, short stuff." She turned and headed towards the lighted doorway across the pad.

"That better have been directed at Artoo." Luke said, following behind her.

*

A short time later found them huddled in an alcove while Artoo accessed data on a public terminal.

"Anything?" He asked the little droid.

Artoo's dome swiveled towards him and he let out a blatting sound before turning back to his work.

"I think that means be patient." Aurora suggested helpfully.

"Yeah, I got that." Luke said wryly. He leaned his head back against the smooth white wall of the alcove, looking around carefully. They'd finally passed a few small groups of people, but nowhere near as many as he'd expected in a city of this size. Even more surprisingly, no one had challenged their presence there, and those few small groups they had passed had seemed rather nervous about something, hurrying along without making eye contact or seemingly even taking notice of the three intruders. Maybe, despite the lack of damage, there really had been a battle of some type here. But what interest could the Alliance have in Bespin? Sure, the tibanna gas was valuable and could be of great use in fueling blasters, but they didn't have the facilities to create them and no where to store them.

It was really bothering him what Han and Leia were doing here. Something was wrong with it, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Artoo suddenly let out a series of excited whistles and chirps.

"Slow down, Artoo." Aurora told the little droid. "You're going way too fast. I didn't catch that."

The astromech whistled again, this time significantly slower. Luke and Aurora exchanged horrified glances.

"The Empire?" He croaked. "They're here?"

Aurora was studying the terminal over Artoo's dome. "Not just here, but here in force! Look at those numbers."

Luke's stomach was twisting with dread. "Why do I have the feeling they're not here for some tibanna?"

"It's got to be Leia. As one of the leaders of the Alliance she'd be a prime target. Somehow, they must have found out she was here." She turned back to the little droid, a sense of urgency rushing through her. "Artoo, I need you to run a search for any ships that have landed recently, anything that fits in the same class size as the _Falcon_. Never mind the names or registration codes; Han and Chewie will be running under false ones."

It only took the astromech a few minutes to bring up a list. Aurora ran her finger down the display, trying to ignore Luke reading over her shoulder. They both spotted it in the same instant.

"Here! Docking bay m23. A YT 1300 light freighter. It has to be the _Falcon_." She frowned. "It says the main hyperdrive was damaged. I wonder how they managed that?"

"Come on." Luke grabbed her arm and pulled her away. "You can ask them when we find them. I'm sure it will be a long and complicated, though thoroughly entertaining, story."

Aurora was still frowning as they headed down the corridor in the direction of the docking bay. "Luke, did you see what ship the Imperials arrived on?"

"Yeah," He said grimly. "The _Executor_. Vader's ship."

*

They were moving quickly now, stopping only to check that they were heading in the right direction. However, they weren't moving on the most direct route. Frequently, corridors that they needed to take would be shut down, while others were conveniently open. As a result, they were moving in a sort of diagonal towards the docking bay.

"We're being herded." Aurora said grimly.

"I know." Luke replied, his jaw set. He couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched and it was making his skin crawl; especially because he was pretty certain who it was. He'd felt that nasty cold aura he remembered from the cave the moment they had set down on the landing platform. From the way her eyes were constantly moving, he knew Aurora did too.

Eventually, they might need to take matters into their own hands, and make their own way through the city. He fingered the lightsaber hanging at his belt, feeling the familiar smooth metal under his fingers. He wondered what their mysterious watcher would do if they started to just cut their way through doors and walls.

As before, the corridors they were moving down were once more deserted. Luke wondered if that was because the inhabitants of the city had fled or if they were being kept out of the way so that when Vader finally made his appearance, there wouldn't be anyone to offer any unlikely heroics. He rather figured the latter. A sudden thought occurred to him and he turned towards her.

"Aurora, promise me something."

At the sudden seriousness in his voice, she stopped and faced him.

"Promise me that if we get separated for any reason, you'll get to Han and Leia. Don't bother trying to rescue me or anything like that."

She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off. "Promise me. Please. I need to know that you'll help them, if for some reason I can't."

Her eyes narrowed and for a moment, he thought she was going to refuse, then she nodded once. "Alright, as long as same goes."

At this look of confusion, she elaborated. "If something happens to _me_, you get them out and leave me."

Luke felt his stomach clench. Leave her alone at the mercy of the Empire? He didn't think he could do that. His first instinct was to refuse absolutely, but then he saw the look on her face and realized it was exactly what he had asked her to do. He swallowed, hard. It was one thing to risk himself in order to help Han and Leia, but something else entirely to risk Aurora. And yet, hadn't she trained just as hard as he had? Wasn't she just as capable? Even more so, considering the number of times she had put him on his back when they sparred. He needed to remember that she was his partner, not his….whatever she was. Somewhere in the back of his mind it occurred to him that maybe _this_ was why Jedis didn't do relationships.

Taking a deep breath, he nodded. "Fair enough."

Aurora's mouth twisted slightly, as if in ironic amusement, and Luke realized she had been expecting him to refuse. Was he really that overprotective of her?

Shaking his head at his own thoughts, he started walking again.

Considering the direction of his thoughts and the way that ominous feeling had been growing, it wasn't too surprising that when they heard the sounds of a group moving towards them, both Luke and Aurora ducked cautiously into alcoves to each side, neither one assuming that it was either innocent bystanders or potential assistance. Artoo let out an excited whistle, only to trail off sheepishly when Luke glared at him.

Ahead of them, a figure dressed in strangely old-fashioned armor appeared around a bend in the hall, followed closely by a strange black floating box pushed by two guards. They were in turn followed by two stormtroopers.

"Fett!" Aurora hissed.

"Who?"

"That's Boba Fett. I recognize the armor."

Even Luke had heard of the infamous bounty hunter and he whistled soundlessly. For the Empire to lower themselves to hiring bounty hunters meant they were _really_ serious about their mission here. He began to have a really bad feeling that it didn't have anything to do with Leia.

Unfortunately for the two Jedis-to-be, sound carried better than they had expected and the stormtroopers spotted them and quickly opened fire.

Cursing under her breath, Aurora returned fire, catching one in the throat. Luke took out the other trooper, but before he could turn his blaster on Fett, the bounty hunter had fired some kind of laser at him. It hit the wall directly in front of his face, causing him to duck down hastily and showering both Luke and Aurora with chunks of the wall. When they both recovered, it was just in time to see the two guards with their strange burden disappear into a side corridor. They rushed after them, but a thick metal door had closed between them.

"Shavit!" Aurora swore again, slamming her hand into the door. "This place is like a damn maze!"

Luke couldn't help but agree. Something tickled at the edge of his mind, and he turned in time to see another group of stormtroopers heading down a hallway behind them. In their midst were several figures: one of them was extremely tall and hairy; another, with intricate dark braids, was almost lost from view.

Leia spotted him at almost the same time.

"Luke! Luke, don't – it's a trap! It's a trap!" She tried to hang onto the edge of the door, but one of the troopers pulled her through.

Without a word, Luke tore after them, Aurora yelling as she followed him with Artoo behind her frantically whistling as he tried to catch up.

Luke reached a kind of anteroom and skidded to a stop, looking around desperately trying to catch his bearings. Leia and Chewie had disappeared. _And where had Han been?_ He heard Aurora coming up behind him, but suddenly another thick door slammed shut between them, leaving him suddenly alone. That nasty cold sensation he'd been feeling since they landed suddenly doubled.

_The trap had just been sprung_.

*

Aurora just barely managed to catch herself from slamming face first into the door that had shut unexpectedly between them. She swore again as Artoo came scooting up next to her.

"What part of 'it's a trap' did he not get?" She demanded in exasperation. The little droid only whistled mournfully.

"Come on, Artoo. We need to find a way around this. You navigate."

_Typical Luke. Someone needs rescuing and he rushes off headlong, regardless of his own safety._

Only now, she had a really bad feeling that Luke was the one in need of rescuing. In fact, she thought maybe he might have been the one all along and maybe they really should have listened to Master Yoda and her father. And thanks to her own stupid confidence that he would never agree to abandon her, she had promised to not try to rescue him. _Stupid, stupid, stupid, _she thought. But who was she actually referring to was unclear, even to herself.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own it; it belongs to George Lucas, yada, yada, yada.

_Still on Bespin…_

Several long corridors later, Artoo suddenly burst into excited whistling. He turned so abruptly that Aurora completely missed the hallway and had to back up, while the little droid scooted along as fast as he could, beeping madly the entire time. She could dimly hear a familiar voice in front of her yelling.

"Artoo! Artoo! Where have you been?"

To her immense pleasure, she spotted Threepio being carried in a sack on Chewie's back as he and Leia, along with an unknown dark-skinned man in a blue cloak, hustled down the white corridor.

Chewie, hearing Threepio's yell, turned sharply and spotted the little droid following them. This, of course, caused Threepio to lose sight of his counterpart and he expressed his displeasure audibly.

"Turn around, you wooly…!" The golden droid berated the Wookie before shouting to Artoo again. "Hurry, hurry! We're trying to save Han from the bounty hunter!"

Chewie, seeing Aurora coming up behind them, let out a huge roar which caused Leia and Lando to whip around, blasters coming up sharply against the possible threat. Judging by Chewie's roars of obvious joy, Lando realized that this was an ally, not an enemy. At the sight of the young red-haired woman, the gambler frowned in confusion.

"That's Skywalker?"

"No." The princess said hurriedly. "Aurora! Where's Luke?"

"We got separated." The other woman replied, "Where's Han?"

A look of anguish crossed Leia's face. "Fett's got him. We're on our way to get him back now. Help us!"

Aurora hesitated. She knew that coming here had been a mistake. This was a trap and they had walked right into it. Separating the two of them had been part of the plan, and the best way to foil it was to locate Luke as fast as she could. Because she knew, she _knew_ that Vader was here and he was waiting for Luke; luring him into his trap like some damn Dathomirian cave spider. She needed to find him and find him fast. Luke couldn't face Vader alone. Her every instinct was screaming at her to turn and head back towards him as fast she could. And yet…she had promised Luke she would find the others. Promised him that she wouldn't abandon them in order to help him. She felt trapped by her own honor. Trapped as well by the panic and anguish that she could feel coming from Leia and the anger and shame from Chewie. Han was her friend too and he was in trouble.

She sighed, knowing what she had to do and hating every minute of it; ignoring those shrieking instincts and forcing her muscles, tensed in anticipation of flight, to relax. "Alright, let's go."

The look of relief and gratefulness on Leia's face should have made her feel better about her decision, but as they set off again down the corridor, all Aurora could hear were Master Yoda's words on Dagobah. _Choose between him and them you must._

She had a terrible feeling that she just had.

*

Fortunately, there was little time for mental recriminations. No sooner had they reached the East Landing Platform, then they saw Fett's ship taking off, silhouetted perfectly against the blazing orange and pinks of Bespin's sunset.

Chewie howled his horror and fired uselessly at the ship. Leia stood in silence, numb with grief. The moment of pure anguish and disbelief in their failure was frozen in time. Of course, it couldn't last.

Aurora didn't need Threepio's gasp of: "Oh, no! Chewbacca, they're behind you!" in order to realize that a group of stormtroopers had come up behind them. She had already sensed their approach and spun, blaster automatically firing.

However, it took a blaster bolt landing near her to shake Leia out of her stupor. Like a woman possessed, she raised her blaster and began firing. Chewie too was raining destruction down on the Imperials, taking out his rage and grief on them. The sharp dressed man with them, who Aurora still hadn't been introduced too, ran past them to the lift doors and keyed them open, frantically gesturing for the others to get in.

But the Princess and the Wookie seemed oblivious to anything but decimating the stormtroopers in front of them, despite the increasing number of blaster bolts coming near them. It was the sudden familiar snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting that snapped Leia out of her berserker rage.

"Leia! Chewie! Go!" She heard Aurora yell and turned to see that the other woman had drawn her lightsaber one-handed. She watched in amazement as Aurora batted away a blaster bolt while reholstering her blaster and then took up a defensive stance between her friends and the Imperials.

Moving slowly towards the lift doors, Leia couldn't believe what she was seeing. Aurora was backing up after them; she stood calmly in a storm of laser bolts while her lightsaber whipped around like a demented glowfly as she caught and unbelievably deflected the blaster fire _back_ at the Imperials.

The second she cleared the lift doors, they slammed shut, blocking the stormtroopers view.

Leaning against the wall to catch her breath while the lift ascended, she caught the looks of disbelief that the others were giving her.

"What?"

"Lady, who _are_ you?" The dark-skinned man asked his eyes wide.

"Commander Aurora Kenobi, Rebel Alliance."

He glanced down at the lightsaber in her hand. "And they teach everybody in the Alliance to use those things?"

"Nope. Just the Commanders." Aurora quipped tiredly, her thoughts once again on Luke.

"Not all of them." Leia replied dryly. "What exactly have you been _doing_ while we were gone?"

"Stuff." Aurora answered, not wanting to get into the entire mess right now, especially with the unknown man listening to every word.

"Stuff." Leia repeated. "And did Luke also learn this 'stuff"?"

The redhead looked away. "I sure as hell hope so." She whispered.

Leia started to speak, intending to pry into that enigmatic answer, but Aurora interrupted her, glancing at the control board. "Where are we headed?"

"To the Falcon. It's our best bet to catch up with Fett and get Han back."

Chewie growled his displeasure.

"I'm getting us there as fast as we can." The unknown man replied. "I overrode the controls so that we don't make any stops and are a direct route to the landing pad where the Falcon is."

"Handy." Aurora stated. "How'd you manage that?"

He bowed. "Allow me to introduce myself: Lando Calrissian, Baron Administrator of Cloud City."

"Even more handy." Was her reply.

*

Aurora wouldn't let the others leave the lift until she had ascertained the way was clear. Chewie didn't like the fact that she had appointed herself their bodyguard and snarled at her, but understood now wasn't the time to talk about it.

Lando led them down yet another shining white corridor decorated with obscure bits of murals and statues. At the end of the hall, they caught a glimpse of the saucer shape of the Millenium Falcon silhouetted against a backdrop of twilight sky. Right before the doors to the landing bay slammed shut, cutting of their view.

"I'm getting really tired of doors shutting in my face around here." Aurora commented, already igniting her lightsaber, knowing what was coming next.

Sure enough, the group had no sooner ducked into another convenient alcove than a group of stormtroopers appeared, a rain of laser bolts heralding their approach.

Once more, Aurora stepped out in front and deflected the majority of the storm, while behind her, Chewie and Leia opened fire.

Lando turned to a control panel and punched in a series of codes. Nothing happened.

"The security codes have been changed!" He yelled desperately over the sound of the battle.

"Artoo," Threepio called from Chewie's back. "You can tell the computer to override the security system." He pointed to a socket near the panel.

The astromech beeped an acknowledgement and scooted over, his interface arm already extended.

Lando pulled a silvery intercom out from the panel and switched it on.

"Attention! This is Lando Calrissian. The Empire has taken control of the city. I advise everyone to leave before more Imperial troops arrive."

As he put the intercom back in place, Artoo levered open the panel and inserted his interface. He beeped once and then emitted a wild, screaming shriek that was audible even over the chaos of the blaster bolts and Aurora's lightsaber.

Every light on the little droid flared up and his head began to spin wildly, as smoke started to seep out from under his dome.

Thinking quickly, Chewie yanked Artoo away from the socket.

"This way." Lando called, gesturing to a side corridor. The others followed him, Artoo's angry bleeps following them along with Threepio's protestations.

"Don't blame me. I'm an interpreter. I'm not supposed to know a power socket from a computer terminal."

Thanks to Lando's announcement, the glaring white corridors were no longer deserted. Throngs of people now crowded them as the panicked residents of Cloud City attempted to flee from the Imperials, many of them carrying as many of their worldly goods as they could manage. Some of them were actually returning fire at the stormtroopers in their midst, but the majority were simple running chaotically or trying to hide.

"Did you plan this?" Aurora called to Lando, as they threaded their way through the hordes as fast as they could.

"Somewhat. Mainly I just wanted my people to have a chance to get out of here." He flashed her a charming smile full of brilliant white teeth. "But a little chaos provides great cover."

"Uh huh." Aurora grabbed the arm of a cowering man and yanked him to the side just as a stormtrooper fired at them; the bolt passing through the air where the man's head had just been.

Chewie fired twice, the second bolt taking out the trooper.

"What, are you invisible?" Aurora told the man. "Either get out of here or get under cover."

With a panicked look at the brilliant blue blade in her hand, he took off, babbling in terror.

"Idiot." She said, shaking her head and catching up to the others who had gathered around another computer terminal. Once again, Artoo had inserted his data interface into the socket. This time, however, it seemed to be working, although not fast enough to suit Threepio who was becoming increasingly aware of the blaster bolts flying around.

"What are you talking about?" He berated the little astromech. "We're not interested in the hyperdrive on the Millenium Falcon. It's fixed! Just open the door, you stupid lump."

With practiced ease, Artoo ignored the golden droid and continued to work, letting out a triumphant beep when the door suddenly opened.

"I never doubted you for a second." Threepio told him in relief. "Wonderful!"

With a cocky ta-wheep, Artoo laid down a dense fog, blanketing the corridor and covering the retreat of the others.

At full speed the burst through the doors and out into the dusky lavender light that covered the landing pad. Chewie headed directly for the ramp, not even slowing down when Threepio's head connected with the entrance of the Falcon with a decided clang. His pained cries could be faintly heard as the Wookie headed for the cockpit.

"Ouch! Oh! Ah! That hurt. Bend down, you thoughtless…Ow!"

Behind him, Leia and Lando were crouched on either side of the door, firing desperately into the fading fog, while Aurora stood between them, once again deflecting the incoming fire.

The distinctive whine of the ship's engines coming online could be heard over the firefight.

"Go!" Aurora yelled. "I'll hold them off here!"

"What?" Leia screamed. "You'll never get past them all."

"I'm _not_ leaving Luke here alone!" Aurora stated flatly, grunting slightly as she stretched to bat back an incoming laser bolt. She was sweating now, her arms starting to feel the strain, despite the Force.

"And what good are you going to do him if you get yourself captured?" Leia demanded. "Then he'll just have to come rescue you."

She had a point, Aurora conceded. She was definitely slowing down, and without Leia and Lando's blasters to help keep them back, she would be overwhelmed by the stormtroopers. More and more were arriving even as they stood there. But to just abandon Luke here…

"We'll call him from the Falcon and tell him to get to his ship." Leia continued.

"Ladies! Can we continue this discussion later? Like, maybe, when we're safely on the _ship_!" Lando yelled.

"Go!" Aurora decided. "I'll cover you until you reach the ship and then you can cover me."

Nodding in relief, Leia turned and ran as fast as she could for the entrance ramp, Lando right behind her. She could hear the humming of Aurora's lightsaber increase as the Imperials directed their fire at her.

Reaching the shelter of the ramp, both Leia and Lando turned and fired back at the doorway as Aurora began backing towards them. Then, with a speed she had to admire, the redhead turned and sped to the Falcon, jumping the last few feet as the ship started to lift off.

They were all breathing heavily as they tumbled into the interior and the ramp closed behind them, but there was no time for resting, and the three of them immediately headed for the cockpit, where Chewie had the ship already racing for the stars.

Leia dropped into the pilot's seat, next to the Wookie, and reached for the com, frantically trying to reach Luke. There was no response. "I can't reach him!"

"We've got bigger problems." Lando replied from behind her. "Ships coming up. Fast." As if in reply, the Falcon rocked under a barrage of fire and the shields flickered.

"Those shields can't take this for long." The gambler said grimly. "Come on, Commander. I assume you know how to handle the quad guns?"

But there was no reply from Aurora. Leia twisted around in her chair in concern.

Aurora was sitting in the navigator's chair, her face blank and her eyes distant. She almost seemed to be listening to something…

"Aurora?" The princess asked, feeling a twinge of fear in her stomach.

For a moment nothing happened, then Aurora's lips parted slightly. Leia had to lean forward to catch the softly murmured word.

"Luke…"

Suddenly, she blinked and seemed to come back from wherever she was. An intense look of resolve was visible on her face. "We've got to go back."

Chewie growled in surprise.

"What?" Lando yelped.

"I know where Luke is." Aurora stated calmly.

"But what about those fighters?" The gambler demanded, disbelief showing on his face.

Chewie couldn't help but agree. Even Leia looked skeptical.

"Promise be damned; I'm not leaving him here." Aurora said. She turned to the Wookie. "Chewie, please. Don't make me abandon him."

Surprisingly gentle blue eyes stared into determined green ones and suddenly the Wookie was nodding, giant paws turning the ship. This he could understand. He had already been forced to leave Han, he wasn't going to do it to Luke too.

Lando, however, wasn't having it. "But what about Vader?"

Chewie snarled at him. Luke was his friend and he wasn't about to abandon him. Aurora said she knew where he was and he believed her. So, first they would go rescue the cub, and then they would rescue Han. It was that simple.

Faced with an irritated Wookie and very conscious of the woman sitting next to him, still holding a lightsaber, Lando threw up his hands in defeat. "All right, all right, all right." He could feel the tilt of the ship under his feet as the Falcon banked into a tight turn. "But I think you're all nuts." He muttered under his breath.

Leia had said nothing through all of this, simply watching Aurora with careful eyes, her face blank.

Aurora's eyes were half-closed as she concentrated on the nebulous feeling that was Luke. "Go underneath the city, Chewie."

"Under the city? How would anyone get-?" Lando broke off as Aurora turned to look at him. "All right." He said once more, facing forward again, speaking under his breath. "Of course he's under the city. Why wouldn't he be?" Suddenly his muttering broke off in surprise as he caught a glimpse of something out the cockpit window. "Look, there's someone up there!"

"It's Luke." Aurora said calmly.

Leia stared out the transparisteel in horror. "Chewie, slow down! Slow down and we'll get under him. Lando, open the top hatch."

But Aurora was already out of her seat and headed down the corridor. Lando shrugged and hurried after her.

Leia sat tensely in her seat, her fingernails digging into her palms. She felt the slight shudder through the ship as the topside hatch opened. "Easy, Chewie."

There was another dull vibration as if something had landed on the surface of the ship.

"Lando?" She called desperately into the com.

"Okay, let's go." He answered.

Without another word, Chewie shoved the throttle forward and the Falcon screamed away, driving hard for deep space. It shook as fire from the still pursuing TIEs rattled it.

The Wookie let out an enraged howl as he wrestled with the controls. Leia watched with her heart in her mouth as the shields flickered slightly. This wasn't good.

She turned as footsteps in the hall were heard and saw Luke enter the cockpit, supported by Aurora and Lando. He was bruised and bloody, holding his right arm awkwardly against his chest, but he was here and alive.

Leia leapt out her chair to hug him, accompanied by Chewie's joyous barks.

Luke smiled slightly in response, the expression looking odd on his battered face. The Princess, overjoyed at seeing him, never noticed that the smile didn't reach his eyes. But Aurora, standing slightly behind him, did. Her face was expressionless, but the look in her own eyes was grim.

"Oh, Luke! What happened?" Leia demanded, pulling back to inspect him. That was when she noticed his arm and saw exactly why he was holding it so carefully. "_Luke_!" Horror coated her voice and he flinched at the sound of it.

"Vader happened." He replied. His own voice sounded weak and listless, even to his own ears. He just wanted to lie down somewhere dark and quiet, where he could close his eyes and go to sleep and pretend none of this had ever happened. Pretend that Vader had never whispered those words…

Behind him, Aurora stirred. "Come on." She wrapped one arm carefully around his waist and pulled him slightly away from Leia, guiding him towards the doorway.

Leia still had one hand over her mouth, her brown eyes wet with tears. "Oh, Luke." She whispered. She barely noticed the ship rocking again under another blast or the frantic movements of Lando and Chewie behind her. Her mind was stilled filled with the knowledge of Luke's terrible injury and the feeling that somehow, it was her fault.

Behind her, she vaguely heard Lando say something.

Clearing her throat, she straightened her shoulders and turned around. She was still Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan and there was still a battle to be fought. Casualties couldn't be counted until after the fighting was done. Then she could consider her own guilt and the price that others paid for her beliefs. Then she could fall apart. But for now, she had to be the leader that everyone, including herself, expected.

With a false calm, she inspected the control panel as Lando desperately tiled the shields to hold off the incoming laser blasts.

Chewie yowled and pointed out a new blip that had just appeared on the radar.

"Star Destroyer." Leia said, recognizing the shape, and judging by the size of it, it was a super Star Destroyer. Remembering Luke's words, she felt a shudder go through her. _Vader happened._

"All right, Chewie. Ready for light-speed." Lando said, his voice tense.

"If your people fixed the hyperdrive." Leia commented, watching the nav 'puter. "All the coordinates are set. It's now or never."

Chewie barked his agreement.

"Punch it!" Lando yelled.

The Wookie wrapped his big paw around the levers and pulled them back smoothly. There was the familiar whirr whirr of the engine charging up and then nothing. The engine noise trailed off in a sad whine. Chewie let out an outraged howl of disbelief, blue eyes turning to Lando.

"They told me they fixed it." The gambler said desperately. "I trusted them to fix it. It's not my fault!"

Leia dropped her head into her hands in despair.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own it; it belongs to George Lucas, yada, yada, yada.

Sorry, this is a short chapter….

Aurora had finished fastening a protective cuff around Luke's wrist and was dabbing bactagel on the cuts on his face when Chewie suddenly rushed past them, growling ominously. Aurora glanced after him. She should head up to the cockpit to see what was wrong and if she could do anything, but she was hesitant to leave Luke by himself. There was something seriously wrong with him; something more than just his physical injuries. She could feel a darkness rippling in the air around him.

The ship jerked again as they took several more hits. The Falcon wasn't going to be able to take much more of this damage. Her shields were shaky at best. Several vicious Wookie oaths came from the doorway Chewie had exited through, followed by the sounds of banging metal.

That decided it; she'd better go see what was going on. Aurora stood up, brushing her hand gently over Luke's hair. "I'll be right back." She kissed him gently and headed aft to the cockpit. However, before she had gotten more than a few steps past the doorway she felt a strange shifting in the Force; a ripple of darkness that left her cold, and she could hear, faintly in her mind, Vader's voice.

"_Luke_."

She turned immediately, intending to go to Luke's side and protect him from whatever evil Vader had planned now.

But even as she started back, Luke sat up suddenly, his eyes glassy. And then he uttered one word, and with it, shattered her world:

"Father."

The voice came again. "_Son, come with me_."

Luke subsided against the pillow again, his strength seemingly gone. "Ben, why didn't you tell me?"

But in the passageway behind him, Aurora was beyond hearing. She had collapsed against the wall, her fist shoved in her mouth to stop the scream that wanted to come spilling out. Vader was Luke's _father_? No! No, it couldn't be. Not the monster who had killed her own father. Luke couldn't have come from him. Vader was everything that was evil and vicious and Luke was…not. No! She shook her head viciously. It couldn't be true. She was shaking uncontrollably and her legs had given out, sending her sliding to the deck plates. There was a sickness rising in her throat, and for one horrid moment, she wanted to go tearing into the other room and scream at Luke; force him to deny it.

How long had he known? How long had he been hiding this from her? Had he known from the beginning? But even as these ugly thoughts rose in her mind, she was shaking her head in denial. No, Luke hadn't known. He couldn't have hidden something like this; not from her. But her father…he had known. He must have, and Master Yoda too.

She was suddenly furious; an ugly rage rising in her, scraping her throat like shards of jagged glass. They had known. Her trusted teachers; her own father. They'd known and they'd purposely concealed it from them both. Not just concealed, Aurora thought violently, but deliberately misled them. Especially Luke. She remembered the stories Luke had told her Ben had shared with him, about his heroic Jedi father. Obi Wan had deliberately built Luke's father up into a legend, something that Luke could worship and adore.

Suddenly, Luke was there, moving past her, like someone in a dream, his eyes focused ahead of him. He never even saw her huddled against the wall as he passed into the cockpit, staring out the viewport at the approaching ships.

Leia and Lando glanced at him in surprise.

"It's Vader." He muttered, not even acknowledging them.

That hideous voice came again, and Aurora shoved her hands over her ears, trying to shut it out.

"_Luke…it is your destiny_."

She could hear the desolation and despair in Luke's voice as he whispered brokenly. "Ben, why didn't you tell me?"

And suddenly, his pain got through her own, and she realized that as much of a horrible shock as it had been to her, it was nothing, _nothing_, to what Luke must be feeling. A fierce surge of protectiveness went through her. Father or no father, Vader wasn't getting Luke. She shoved herself to her feet and went to him, trying to build a shield with the Force to block the waves of darkness she could feel emanating towards him.

Suddenly there was a new sense to the tendril of darkness. A sense of surprise, and then awareness. Vader knew what she was doing and he was…amused? Before fear could grip her entirely, the entire ship seemed to tilt as, without warning, the Millenium Falcon shot into hyperspace. Caught off guard, Aurora stumbled and was just barely able to steady Luke before he fell.

Behind them, there was a loud electronic squeal from the direction of the maintenance pit, followed immediately by a Wookie growl of rage.

Leia and Lando had been thrown back into their seats by the unexpectedness of the maneuver, but that didn't stop Lando from throwing a triumphant glance at the princess.

"See? I told you my people fixed the hyperdrive."

Aurora stared out the cockpit window at the steaming lights of hyperspace, her arm still supporting Luke, who had gone rather limp, and her mind still focused on that last sharp feeling that had shot past her just as they went to lightspeed. It had come from Vader and it had been…despair?

*

Aurora got Luke settled back in the bunk and gave him a sedative. It was mild, but in his exhausted condition, it knocked him out immediately. She was sitting on the deck near his bunk, her thoughts racing out of control, when Leia entered.

She went immediately to the bunk and the unconscious young Commander on it.

"How is he?"

"A bloody mess." Aurora replied flatly. "He's got cuts and bruises, possibly some cracked ribs, maybe a concussion. But the hand's the worst of it."

Leia glanced down at Luke's right arm. She gently touched his wrist above the protective cuff.

"I guess we should just be grateful it was a lightsaber." Aurora said. At the Princess' questioning glance, she explained further. "We don't have to worry about blood loss. Lightsaber's cauterize the wound."

Leia nodded, but it was perfunctory, as if she wasn't really listening. Her eyes kept straying to Luke's arm, but her mind was whirling away, calculating everything that she had heard in the past few days.

"Vader did this." She said suddenly. "He wanted Luke. That's what Lando told us. He said that Vader was after Luke and we were just the bait." Cool brown eyes turned to regard the other woman. "No one ever mentioned you."

Aurora was exhausted. More than just physically, it was the emotional mire that she had been through that had left her feeling bruised and beaten and in no mood for games.

"What are you trying to say, Leia?  
The princess turned to face her fully. "Vader was after Luke specifically. Why?"

"I would think that would be pretty obvious. He wanted to get his hands on a Jedi."

"No," Leia was already shaking her head. "No, if that had been the case, he would have wanted both of you. But he didn't. Lando said he only mentioned Luke, not you. He only wanted _Luke_, not you. Why?"

Leia was watching her carefully and Aurora was reminded forcibly that as fragile and diminutive as the former princess of Alderaan looked, there was a razor-sharp intelligence behind that pretty face.

She gave a casual shrug. "I'm not sure, but if I had to guess, I'd say because Vader and the Emperor consider Luke the greater danger. Maybe it's the same tired Imperial prejudice against females: I'm only a woman, so they don't consider me as much of a threat as a man. Who knows?"

Leia was silent for several long minutes. "You're lying."

Aurora sighed, her eyes closing wearily for a moment as she tried to think of the best way to handle this. After a moment, her eyes opened again. "No, Leia, I'm not." She held up her hand to forestall the comment the princess was about to make. "I'm not." She repeated forcefully. "But I'm not telling you everything I know either."

"Why?"

"Because it's not all mine to tell."

The two women stared at each other for several heartbeats. Leia could see the toll that exhaustion and worry had taken on Aurora. There were dark circles under her eyes and the brilliant green of the irises seemed dim. Her clothing was dirty and wrinkled. She could see a scorch mark across one shoulder from a near blaster miss, mute testament to the danger that Aurora had been in. From what she'd been able to gather, at some unknown warning of danger to herself, Han and Chewie, Luke and Aurora had flown straight to Bespin, and then Aurora had immediately jumped into the firefight to try to save Han. She'd risked her life several times and Leia had never had any reason to doubt her before. But it was the several unknowns in the story that were bothering her. _How_ had the two young commanders known that she and Han were in danger and why was Vader after Luke not Aurora? It was these reasons and a lifetime habit of secrecy that kept Leia from fully trusting the young woman in front of her now.

_Are those the only reasons?_ Her conscience prodded her. _It doesn't have anything to do with her relationship with Luke?_

Of course not! Leia loved Han. She didn't have those kinds of feelings for Luke.

_But you feel protective of him, don't you? Maybe even a little possessive?_

Leia considered it. Yes, maybe she did feel a little possessive. Luke was her friend too, but sometimes it felt like when Aurora was in the room, Luke didn't see anyone else. She knew this was foolish and untrue, but it felt like it all the same. And maybe that too was spurring on the feelings of doubt towards the other woman. Feeling as if maybe she was being a little unfair, she shifted slightly and uncrossed her arms, trying to assume a less accusatory stance.

"Fine. I'll let it be. But whatever secrets you're hiding, Aurora, better not put the Alliance in danger."

Aurora shivered and forced herself not to look away, but she couldn't bring herself to deny the accusation. The secret that she was concealing for Luke was more dangerous than Leia could even imagine.


	15. Chapter 15

_On the Rebel Cruiser_

"Wedge!"

Wedge looked up as Tycho burst through the training room door, his normally composed face, flushed.

"I just heard from Control. The Falcon just contacted them and is on its way in."

Wedge stood up, hurriedly shutting off the datapad he had been working on. "Solo? He made it back then. Is the Princess with him?"

"Yeah, she's the one that made the call." Tycho put a hand on his arm to stop him as Wedge started to push past him out the door.

"Wedge, she told them to have an emergency medical team meet them in the hanger bay…for Luke."

Startled brown eyes met his. "Luke's with them? What about Aurora? How--?" Shaking his head, Wedge cut himself off. "Never mind. We'll find out when we get there. Let's go."

The two men headed off down the corridor, neither of them talking, but both consumed with questions and worries. Tycho's words kept pounding through Wedge's head: _Emergency medical team…for Luke…Emergency medical team…for Luke._

It was only a few minutes but seemed like hours before the small group of people standing in the hangar spotted an incoming ship. It was flying fast and shortly resolved itself into the familiar saucer shape of the Millenium Falcon. With a delicacy rarely seen in the famous freighter, it rotated slowly until it was aligned with the entrance of the docking bay and settled carefully onto its landing struts. As gas vented with a familiar hiss and the engines settled into silence, the forward hatch opened and the ramp lowered with a slight thud. Within moments, figures appeared in the hatchway. The diminutive figure of Princess Leia appeared first, accompanied by a strange man dressed in a blue cloak. They were no sooner surrounded by a crowd of officials than another figure appeared in the hatch.

"Aurora!" Wedge yelled upon seeing her, feeling his stomach relax slightly. She was walking slowly, but appeared to be unharmed.

However, the young Commander barely looked his way, and he soon realized why. Following directly behind her was the giant form of Chewbacca carefully holding another person in his arms. Wedge knew without even looking that it was Luke. He could tell by the way Aurora was keeping close to the two. The waiting medical team surrounded them as they reached the foot of the ramp, and Luke was swiftly shifted onto a hovering stretcher as the medical staff worked over him.

Pushed out of the way, Aurora stood alone and silent, her body held stiffly. Wedge and Tycho hurried over to her.

"Aurora! What's going on? Are you okay? What happened to Luke?"

She turned to them slowly, and Wedge nearly flinched at the blank expression on her face. It was as if a permacrete shield had settled over her features, concealing anything that she might be feeling. "Aurora?" he questioned again, softly.

For a moment, just a moment he saw the shield slip and the utter devastation on her face, before she recovered and slipped the mask back into place.

"Wedge. Tycho." Her voice was calm, but her hand was clenched into a fist over the hilt of her lightsaber and her eyes kept returning to where the medical team was surrounding Luke.

Wedge's eyes followed hers and for a brief moment, one of the team of doctors working on Luke stepped away, and Wedge saw his friend. He could see the cuts and bruises marring Luke's face, but more importantly, he could see his friend's right arm and the stump where it abruptly ended at the wrist. Wedge sucked in his breath and exchanged a horrified look with Tycho.

Before either could say anything, the medical team began moving the stretcher towards the landing bay door. Aurora abruptly turned to follow them. "Wait! I have to go with them." She rushed to catch up to the group, following closely behind them as they exited the bay and headed to the medical center; Wedge and Tycho silent presences at her heels. At the doors to one of the treatment rooms, one of the doctors held up his hand to stop her. "I'm sorry, Commander Kenobi. But you'll have to wait here."

"No. I don't." Aurora tried to push past him, only to have him catch her shoulders and hold her in place.

"Commander, no non-medical personnel during treatment. I'm sorry. Now, you can wait here in the lounge, and we'll update you as soon as possible." She lifted one hand and he seemed to take an involuntary step backwards, his feet skidding on the smooth floor.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," Aurora replied implacably, "_You_ don't seem to understand. I'm going in that room whether you like it or not." She stared at him silently.

"Commander." The doctor's voice was losing its calm placidity. "I assure you; his condition, although serious, is not critical. He is in no danger right now."

"Do you know what happened to his hand, Doctor?" Aurora suddenly asked.

The man faltered for a moment, not expecting the question. "Uh-no, well, yes. It was cut off with a lightsaber."

Wedge and Tycho exchanged horrified looks.

She nodded. "That's right. By Darth Vader, personally. Now tell me he's in no danger."

The two stared at each for a moment before the doctor gave in. "Fine. But you stay out of our way or I'll personally have you removed."

The young commander didn't say a word, simply marched through the doors and took up a silent position in the corner, where she could watch both Luke and the door. And there she stayed while the medical team treated the contusions and abrasions, the cracked ribs and prepared his severed hand for surgery.

Outside, Wedge and Tycho took turns keeping vigil in the lounge, their concentration switching back and forth between the still figure in the bed and the equally white-faced figure standing in the corner. Although they hadn't alerted anyone, word got around the ship, as always, and various members of Rogue Squadron came and went as their duties permitted. Princess Leia arrived at one point, and approached the transparisteel window, but she didn't say a word. When her eyes fell on Aurora, a frown crossed her brow, but she remained silent and left a short time later.

No one knew exactly what had happened, but rumors were already flying around the ship. The fact that Commander Kenobi refused to leave Commander Skywalker's side really started them whirling.

It was several hours later before Leia entered the medcenter again. She nodded to Wedge and Tycho who were currently stationed in the waiting area outside Luke's room, but didn't say anything, just quietly approached the door and looked in.

The lights were dim as the ship had entered its sleep cycle, but there was enough light for Leia to see Luke still sleeping peacefully, the cuts now gone from his face and the prosthetic hand now attached and carefully wrapped at his wrist. She also spotted Aurora curled up asleep in a chair in the corner of the room. Her legs were tucked up into the chair with her and she might have looked cute and cozy if it hadn't been for the fact that her lightsaber was gripped tightly in her hand, the hilt pointing directly at the door. She might have been asleep, but she was still on guard, as much as the Rogues in the other room. Leia watched her for a moment, a frown creasing her brow. She still wasn't sure what to think about Aurora. Nothing in her actions said threat, but there were so many unanswered questions that she didn't know what to think. She had kept her doubts to herself when she met with General Rieekan, but they still continued to swirl around in her brain.

She leaned her aching head against the doorjamb and wished desperately that Han was here. He'd know what to do. For all his brash bravado and lack of discipline, he still had a good sense of people and was very nearly as cynical as she was. She couldn't ask Luke; he was too close to Aurora. Another frown crossed her face at the thought. She wondered exactly _how_ close they were. Because after talking to Rieekan, Leia now had even more questions. Apparently, Luke and Aurora had both disappeared after Hoth, never arriving at the rendezvous coordinates, only to show up without warning on Bespin just in time to rescue them. So that left another two questions unanswered: where were they in those intervening weeks and how had they known Leia and Han were in trouble? It was those questions and others like them that kept Leia tossing in her bunk long after she had left the medcenter. That, and the almost physical ache of missing Han.

Luke woke slowly, his mind fuzzy; odd images were chasing around in his memory and he couldn't quite make them out or put them together. He kept seeing endless white corridors and Aurora was with him; they were hurrying towards something. Then it would change and become dark and smoky, with flickering red lights and suddenly he was alone. But he wasn't; he could hear a sound in the background, a raspy, mechanical sound; breathing…

With a sudden jolt of terror he opened his eyes, sweat pearling on his skin as his eyes darted around, searching for the source of that terrifying sound.

Slowly, his breathing eased and his heartbeat slowed down as he took in his surroundings. Considering the machines scattered around the room, he was obviously in some sort of medcenter, and judging by the equipment's less than pristine state, he was betting it wasn't an Imperial one. A slight, barely noticeable vibration let him know he was on a ship. So, he was in a medcenter on an Alliance ship of some kind. But what was he doing here? And where exactly was here?

Trying to bring the foggy memories clear, he lifted his hands to rub over his face; stopping with a hiss when the movement of his right arm caused a burning pain in his wrist.

Carefully, Luke raised it enough to look at his arm. There was a bandage wrapped around his wrist, just above his hand. No…not _his _hand. It didn't move when he tried to flex the fingers, just twitched slightly. A prosthetic hand, one on which they obviously hadn't gotten around to nerve mapping yet.

Luke studied it with an almost horrid fascination. It certainly looked real. He touched the back of it with his other hand. Felt real too. But why….

Suddenly, the memories were rushing back. The vision on Dagobah, the frantic flight to Bespin, running through those stupid corridors, and then the fight with Vader.

Vader…

He flinched away from that particular memory, doing his damndest to bury any recollection of what Vader had said.

Ben. He desperately needed to talk to Ben. Because of course it was a lie, and Ben would tell him that. Vader was evil and he lied, because that was what evil did; it lied. It certainly didn't father children and then show up years later wanting to bond with them, and then cut off their hands. Well, actually, that part did sound like something evil would do.

Luke stifled a slightly hysterical laugh and realized that he might still be feeling a little punchy from whatever drugs they had given him. At least that's what Aurora would probably tell him.

Aurora. At the thought of her, he sat up straighter, looking around the room. He'd been vaguely aware of her presence in the Force since he'd woken up, but he hadn't consciously focused on it. Now he spotted her, curled up in a chair in the corner, deeply asleep. A slight smile curled his lip. She looked really uncomfortable and was going to have one hell of a crick in her neck from sleeping like that. That she was willing to put up with that, just to stay near him, made his heart flip.

Out of no where, a stray thought bludgeoned him: how would Aurora react if Vader had been telling the truth?

A confused welter of emotions roiled up inside him. Love, fear, betrayal, anger; they all surged inside him, fighting for dominance.

He closed his eyes again, too exhausted to even try to control his feelings. He was just so tired. He wished he could go to sleep again and escape into the comfort of unconsciousness where he didn't have to think about Vader or his father or Ben or even Aurora.

The next day found Luke sitting upright on a medical table. He was staring with morbid fascination at his right hand. An access panel in the wrist was levered open allowing him to see the various servos and motors that had replaced the tendons and bones of his severed hand. A Twoonebee medical droid stood in front of him, a needle-sharp probe gripped in its hand which it was applying, painfully, to various points on Luke's hand. Each time the point pricked the synthflesh covering the prosthetic, his hand would flinch and the workings in the panel would move and whir slightly. It held a slightly sickening appeal. Nothing would ever replace his real hand, but this was kind of cool…in a gruesome sort of way.

Next to the table he reclined on, Leia was sitting quietly in a chair, deliberately looking away from the procedure. Apparently she didn't find it as fascinating as he did. Luke mentally shrugged. Threepio too seemed to find the operation distasteful and had dragged Artoo over near the viewport, much to the little astromech's disgust, who had seemed to find the procedure as interesting as Luke did.

A slight sensation in the Force had him looking at the door moments before Aurora came through it. Luke felt his stomach twist slightly at her appearance, and he wondered if he'd always have this reaction to her.

He hadn't really had a chance to speak to her earlier. Shortly after he'd awoken, the doctor and a team of medical droids had descended on his room, waking Aurora up and unceremoniously booting her out. She'd gone with very little argument, which seemed to surprise the doctor a great deal; to the point that he'd eyed her suspiciously and told her he was considering ordering a medical evaluation on her. Aurora had simply smiled slightly and given him a wry salute, before ducking out of the room. When Leia came in several hours later, she told him that Aurora had been found doing flimsiwork in Rogue Squadron's training room from which she had subsequently been dragged out of by Wedge and Tycho, who force-marched her to her assigned quarters and told her to get some sleep or they'd drug her. Luke had winced. He could well imagine her reaction to that and only hoped he could get to Wedge and Tycho before Aurora did.

Leia had also filled him in on the events leading up to Bespin and the subsequent aftermath. At least, she'd filled him on most of what had happened. He was fairly certain that she had omitted certain things from her narration, judging by the way she blushed when she mentioned trying to repair the Falcon while it was hidden in a cave on an asteroid. But she'd looked so grieved and upset whenever she mentioned Han's name, that Luke hadn't had the heart to tease her about her obviously changed feelings towards the other man. Besides, he'd felt another uncomfortable twist in his heart during the conversation, which had inevitably led his thoughts straight to Aurora and his feelings for her.

He could admit to himself that he was in love with her, even if he hadn't said it yet to her. Nor did he have any plans to do so. Not until the situation with Vader was resolved, and then it would depend entirely on the end result; because he had absolutely no intention of forcing her to carry on a relationship with the son of the man who murdered her father. That would be entirely too painful for both of them.

Still, his new insight and resolve didn't make his feelings any easier to bear. It was even worse now, after that night on Dagobah, since he now knew exactly how it felt to kiss her and touch her, to have her in his arms responding just as eagerly to him as he had to her.

Luke shifted uncomfortably on the table, hoping his thoughts weren't plain to see on his face. Fortunately, Aurora wasn't looking at him, but at his hand. For a moment, he felt something swirl in the Force, then it was gone, and Aurora was looking away, her face blank.

He frowned. What had that been? It wasn't like Aurora to be squeamish.

Aurora swallowed down the guilt that had surged up at the sight of Luke's prosthetic hand. She'd been fighting it down for days now, but she couldn't stop from blaming herself. If she had gone after Luke like she wanted to, instead of helping Leia and Chewie; if she had just _listened _to her instincts, then it was entirely possible that he wouldn't be sitting here right now being fitted with a new hand. A new hand, for Force's sake! Had she learned nothing in the cave on Dagobah?

Of course, if she had simply listened to Master Yoda in the first place and tried to talk Luke out of going, then none of this would have happened either. Not that blindly listening to Master Yoda was going to be an option in the future.

Her jaw clenched in anger. As far as she was concerned, both he and her father had _a lot_ of explaining to do; because they'd had to have known about Vader. She couldn't believe that her father's very good friend Anakin Skywalker could suddenly turn into a Sith Lord without Obi-Wan having been aware of it. Unless Vader had lied, but for some reason, she had a terrible feeling that he hadn't; that he really _was_ Luke's father, and oh Force, how was Luke going to deal with that?

Her thoughts brought her eyes back to his face. She was so familiar with it. She could have drawn its lines in the dark. She knew exactly how his eyebrows would quirk up when he smiled, the way a dimple almost appeared in his cheek. With her own fingers, she'd traced the faint scars that were left on his cheek from the encounter with the Wampa on Hoth. She knew how soft his lips actually were and that his hair felt like cool silk in her hands. And yet with all this personal knowledge, she had no idea how to broach the subject of Vader with him; she had no clue how to handle this situation. What could she say that would make it better? She felt helpless in the face of the darkness that surrounded him in the Force. He'd shoved it down for now, but she could still feel it faintly and knew that when he was alone and vulnerable, it would surge back up again, smothering him with despair and betrayal. And she didn't have the power to help him this time. That thought had her lying awake in her bunk, or sent her running for the simulators or the training room; anything to keep her mind off her own powerlessness.

The sudden beeping of a comlink pulled her away from her bleak thoughts. Both she and Leia glanced over as Luke fumbled awkwardly at his belt with his left hand, before freeing his comlink.

"Skywalker."

"Luke, we're ready for takeoff." Lando's voice came through clearly.

"Good luck, Lando." He returned.

"When we find Jabba the Hutt and that bounty hunter, we'll contact you." The gambler said.

"I'll meet you at the rendezvous point on Tatooine."

"_We'll_ meet you on Tatooine." Aurora interjected.

Luke nodded his lips quirking slightly. "_We'll _meet you on Tatooine." He repeated.

Lando chuckled before sobering. "Princess, we'll find Han. I promise."

Leia's eyes met Luke's briefly, before she glanced away, swallowing down the emotions that had welled up. Under other circumstances Aurora probably would have touched her shoulder or put an arm around her; something to convey support and sympathy, but currently, she and Leia were maintaining a polite, but distant truce. That last conversation on the Falcon was still uppermost in both of their minds.

Luke, aware of the tension between the two women but uncertain of the cause, continued the conversation on the comlink. "Chewie, I'll be waiting for your signal."

Chewie confirmed this, his loud wail coming clearly over the comlink even though Lando was holding it, causing the three humans in the medcenter to smile briefly.

"Take care, you two. May the Force be with you." Luke finished, shutting off the comlink. He started to return it to his belt, fumbling once more. Leia looked away again, rising from her chair and walking over to the viewport, her back to the room, but Aurora stepped forward, taking the comlink from his hand and returning it to its place.

"Thanks." Luke said, "I guess I'm not used to being left-handed yet."

"Looks like in a few more minutes, you won't have to be." Aurora replied, gesturing to the medical droid.

As they both watched, the droid applied the needle to each of Luke's fingers.

"Ow." He complained mildly.

The droid gestured to him and Luke wiggled each of his fingers then made a fist several times.

"Looks good."

Twoonebee closed the wrist access panel and then unfastened the metal cuff holding Luke's hand in place. Luke swung his legs off the exam table and stood up, rubbing his wrist slightly. It still felt slightly odd, but at least it worked now. He idly wiggled his fingers again, just to see them move.

"Luke." Aurora said quietly.

He glanced at her, brows raised in question.

With an inclination of her head, Aurora drew his attention to where Leia stood silently at the viewport, her arms wrapped defensively around herself. They could both feel the waves of pain emanating from her.

Luke nodded and walked over to the diminutive princess. He didn't speak, just put his arm around her slim shoulders and held her protectively. Aurora appeared on her other side. She didn't make an obvious effort to touch the other woman, but she stood close enough that her arm brushed against Leia's, offering a tangible sense of support. As if sensing the solemn mood, the droids too moved up next to them. Threepio, for once, had the sense to say nothing; he simply rested one hand on Artoo.

Together, the silent group watched as the Millenium Falcon came into view, turned gracefully and raced away towards a distant star cluster, his thrusters burning blue against the black velvet of space. None of them spoke. Although they stood together, each of them was lightyears away in their thoughts, each thinking of the future and what it could bring them: a beloved companion lost forever or returned, a galaxy torn apart by an ever escalating war, a truth revealed that could shatter a lifetime of hope. Only time would tell.

Fin.

A/N I'm finally finished and I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who reviewed. I really appreciated it and got a huge thrill each time I saw a new review. In response to some of you, I do intend to continue Aurora's involvement in the Star Wars universe. I just haven't decided if I want to go straight ahead to Jedi, or if I want to do a little bit with Shadows of the Empire. Although there are certain books in the EU that I despise and pretend never happened (cough Jedi Academy cough) I do think that Shadows fit in well to the Cannon and can easily see Aurora sliding into the story line. I haven't decided yet though, so any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!


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